Melody Barnes: Say Anything
by JanaeSpecter14
Summary: A quiet retired life is not what Melody wants, so, she still goes on missions with Captain America until one goes bad, and the government needs to get involved. Everyone has different opinions and wants leading to two sides headed by Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Melody finds herself somewhere in the middle when it comes to the inclusion of her grandfather. (CA:CW)
1. Happy Birthday, Andy!

_**"I wait for you to say the words I wanna be true**_

_**But you don't say anything do you?**_

_**Let it all come out. Restless heart, lazy mouth**_

_**But you don't say anything, do you?**_

_**I would wait all my days to hear the words I need you to say. **_

_**To keep me hanging on and not walking away **_

_**But you don't say anything, do you?"**_

_**Say Anything by Anderson East ft Jill Andrews**_

* * *

LAGOS

Melody and Wanda sat across from each other, each slowly sipping on their tea, trying to remain as casual as possible. Melody made eye contact with Wanda through her sunglasses before looking around them, trying to signal her to what her questions was going to be before playing with her hair that was tucked into a loose ponytail. "What do you see?"

Wanda took a subtle look around again before turning back to her. "Standard beat cops. Small station." Melody looked around with her eyes, but Wanda kept moving her head around. She was trying to get better at that. In all fairness, Melody was a trained spy by SHIELD, and she was a mom, so she had the "eyes in the back of her head" type thing. "Quiet street. It's a good target."

"There's an ATM on the south corner," Steve's voice came in through their ear pieces, kind of startling Wanda, but Melody didn't flinch. "Which means?"

Wanda rubbed her nose while answering, "Cameras."

"Both cross streets are one-way." Steve continued.

"So, compromised escape routes." Melody gave Wanda a slight nod at her response before going back to her tea.

Melody spoke with the cup in front of her lips, trying not to alert anyone around them about what they were planning. You never knew who was listening. "Means our guy doesn't care about being seen. He isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out."

"You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"

Luckily, it was in a position where Wanda didn't have to turn her head to see it. She could just glace over there. "Yeah, the red one? It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof," Natasha began. Wanda made the mistake of trying to look over at her table, but she caught herself. "Which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us."

Wanda, in an exasperated attempt looked to Melody. "You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?"

Melody offered her a smile before moving forward to take her hand. Wanda gave it to her reluctantly, tired of being babied by the entire team. "Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature."

Wanda gave her a small smile back, but this one was more of annoyance. "Anybody ever tell you all you're a little paranoid?" Sam's voice rang through the ear pieces then as he was standing on top of a building, getting a bird's eye view on the whole scene.

"Not to my face." Natasha spoke, sitting up a little straighter. "Why? Did you hear something?"

"Hey, Melody," Sam spoke, trying to get a curiosity settled that had been there through the mission so far. "Where's your husband? We could use the extra hands. I miss my other bird guy."

"Retired." She spoke through a smile. "For the time being."

Melody opened her mouth to continue, but Steve needed to get everyone back on track. "Eyes on target, folks. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him."

"If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem. He kind of hates us." Melody shrugged at Sam's comments, knowing that hate probably wasn't a strong enough word.

"Sam," Steve's eyes were fixated on one thing that seemed very out of place on the street. "See that garbage truck? Tag it." Sam did exactly as he said, the back of his pack coming off to work as a drone.

There was a small pause while Sam was collecting the information before finally speaking. "That truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed."

"It's a battering ram." Natasha spoke in realization.

"Go now." Steve instructed.

Wanda had a confused look on her face. "What?"

"He's not hitting the police." Steve quickly explained before jumping into action.

Melody quickly put some money on the table before getting up and urging Wanda to follow suit. "Time to go."

They ran toward the Institute for Infectious Diseases. Once they got there, Steve had seemingly dropped from the sky to take out three of Rumlow's men. "Body armor, AR-15s." Steve reported.

Melody then walked up right next to him which he wasn't expecting. "I make seven hostiles."

Sam quickly flew up to the roof, and knocked one guy down, and threw the other off of the roof and onto one of the cars. Both Melody and Steve's eyes grew wide since it was the car right in front of them. "I make five."

Wanda put up a defense shield as one of the men began shooting at her. When his magazine ran out, she stiffened him, and lifted him in the air before calling out, "Sam."

He easily knocked him down before continuing in the direction he was going. "Four."

Melody pulled out her tablet from her backpack, quickly pulling up exactly what Redwing was seeing. "Rumlow's on the third floor."

Steve immediately began walking towards the building. Melody scoffed at the fact that he didn't wait for her before quickly putting her tablet into her backpack and running after him. "Wanda," Steve pointed to her, "just like we practiced."

Wanda had a nervous look on her face as they passed her. "What about the gas?"

Melody turned back to her, not stopping. "Get it out." Wanda sighed at how simple she made that seem before helping Steve up into the building with her powers while Melody jumped up into the building with the strength in her legs.

Once they were inside, bullets rapidly came from all directions, so they quickly found shelter behind various columns. Melody was able to peer out and signal to Steve where exactly the shooter was coming from. Then, Steve shot his shield across the room, and it ended up hitting the shooter in the head, sending him to the ground.

Once the space was clear, they ran out to where find out just what they were trying to keep them from. It was the containment area, and inside, one of the vials was missing. "Shit." Melody cursed under her breath before hurrying out of the room with Steve following. She put her finger to her earpiece before talking. "Rumlow has a biological weapon."

"I'm on it." Natasha fought her way through the crowd of Rumlow's men before finally making it to him. They fought, and despite all of Natasha's spy devices and skill, he had the upper hand, and threw her into a Humvee before throwing a grenade down there. She barely made it out in time before it blew.

Rumlow was headed towards the building on the back of another Humvee with a machine gun sitting at the top of it. Steve and Melody ran onto the patio of the building to see where Rumlow had run off to, but the second he saw them he aimed to fire. Steve pushed Melody back inside, and then brought his shield up to protect from the blast.

Melody had fallen to the ground after being pushed in, and right when she tried to get up, a blast sent her back onto the floor, and Steve into a column which he broke. Some debris had fallen on Melody, but she was too angry to focus on the pain. She stood up, the debris falling off of her forcefully.

Melody moved to Steve, trying to help him up, but more shots came through the building. Melody was sent down again, more hurt than the last time. Steve helped her up that time and pulled her towards the nearest exit. The second balcony off the building. "This is stupid." Melody mumbled as soon as they got there, but there was an explosion, sending them off of the balcony before they could even jump.

Steve pulled her close, making sure that when she landed, she was going to land on him. Once they landed, Melody rolled off of Steve, gasping and grabbing at her side which had some glass lodged into it from the explosion. Her hands shook and she let out winces as she pulled the glass out before taking out the bandanna that was pushing back her hair to put pressure on her wound.

Steve sat up and looked off in the direction that Rumlow went. He was about to get up and follow until he noticed the blood pooling around Melody. "Sam." He couldn't go after Rumlow, but Sam could. "He's in an AFV heading north."

Melody began to shake off her backpack while she sat up before nodding to it. "There's some stuff in my bag to clean and bandage." Steve began rummaging through it to find her first aid kit. "And _do not_ tell Clint."

Steve began working on her wound before making eye contact with her. "Isn't he gonna notice?"

She shut her eyes for a moment, knowing that this was going to lead to another fight between the two. "Yeah probably, but at least he won't worry about me throughout the rest of this mission." Steve looked guilty for a moment, but continued bandaging. "I know he asks you to keep tabs on me."

Steve sighed before meeting her eyes for the first time since the conversation started. "I don't think now is the best time to talk about this." He looked down at his handiwork before turning back to Melody with a slight smile. "All fixed up."

He got up and then offered her his hands to help her stand. Melody gave him an annoyed smile for a moment once she was standing before finally saying something. "We can talk about it on the ride back then." She gave him a clap on the shoulder that was a littler harder than normal, really signaling to Steve that he was in trouble before they started hurrying to where Rumlow had ended up.

They all began converging on the rest of Rumlow's men, Sam being the first to report. "I've got four, they're splitting up."

Natasha was speeding through the streets with a motorcycle she found before stopping it and running through the crowd. "I got the two on the left."

Melody and Steve then ran in to find armor on the ground. Melody moved to pick it up, as she examined it, she turned to Steve and shook her head. "They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now."

Right when Melody was done talking, an explosive attached itself to Steve's shield. Both Steve and Melody looked down at the shield in shock before looking at each other. Melody immediately snatched it from his hands and threw it up into the air before it could explode in the crowd of people.

Rumlow showed up behind them, immediately punching Steve in the back with an arm appendage that doubled as a weapon. "Steve!" He then grabbed Melody by the hair and threw her down into the street. She immediately felt a wave of nausea at how hard her head had been hit, and her vision was going in and out.

"There you are, you son of a bitch." Rumlow grabbed Steve and began to back him up into a nearby business. "I've been waiting for this."

Melody got up, no longer feeling as woozy, just as Rumlow shoved Steve into a newspaper rack. "This is for dropping a building on my face." Melody took the chance that Rumlow's back was to her and jumped on him. She began delivering blows to his head, but it wasn't doing much because of his helmet. He eventually threw Melody off of him and into a table, but this time, she got up quick.

Melody was able to pull off one of the weapons attached to his arm, but on the other arm, had the exact same weapon. He tried to go for Melody with his razor hand, but Steve was able to deliver a roundhouse kick which sent Rumlow across the courtyard.

Steve turned to Melody to check on her, but she didn't waste any time, and began advancing on Rumlow. Steve eventually followed, but he was worried about Melody and what seemed to be an endless drive of ruthlessness during these battles.

When they made it to him, Rumlow had taken off his helmet, revealing how much damage his face had taken since their battle at the Triskelion. They were both taken aback for a moment before Rumlow decided to break the silence. "I think I look pretty good, all things considered."

Melody kicked him so they could keep him on topic. She wasn't going to play this guilt game that Rumlow was trying. "Who's your buyer?"

Rumlow turned to look at Steve, ignoring Melody's demand. "You know, he knew you." Melody and Steve shared a look of confusion before looking back to Rumlow. He had a sick smile on his face which was ultimately worrying both of them. "Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky."

Steve grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer. "Steve," Melody spoke in a warning tone.

Steve's face contorted into a sea of worry. "What did you say?"

Melody moved closer to him, trying to get him to look her in the eye, but Steve was too taken aback by the mention of his best friend. "He's trying to get under your skin. Don't give into him."

"He remembered you." Melody turned to look at Rumlow too this time, finding this also to be a sensitive topic for herself. She hadn't worked out her feelings about Bucky ever since she found out that he was the one who killed her father. She knew it wasn't his fault, and that he was being used as a weapon, but he was still the man who took everything from her. What sucked the most was that he was family. "I was there. He got all weepy about it. Till they put his brain back in a blender. He wanted you to know something." They were both transfixed on this conversation now, neither one thinking about the other threats that could be going on outside of this. "He said to me, 'Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go...you gotta go.'" Rumlow pulled a detonator out from behind his back, letting them both see it before saying, "And you're coming with me."

Melody tried to pull Steve away, but he had already pressed down on the button. An explosion began to form as Melody and Steve moved in together, knowing they were about to be taken out, but nothing happened. When they looked up, they saw a force field around the explosion.

They turned to see Wanda just as she lifted Rumlow and the explosion up into the air. Melody ran over to Wanda, realizing this wasn't going to be a good idea. She tackled her down, but it was too late. The explosion detonated, taking out an entire chunk of the building they were near.

All of the civilians ran, but the Avengers were frozen. Wanda got up from the ground, and Melody turned to look at her. Wanda had placed her hand over her mouth. "Oh, my..." She couldn't finish her sentence. She killed people. Innocent people that didn't have anything to do with this mission.

"Sam..." Steve struggled with words for a moment, also feeling immense responsibility for this tragedy. "We need Fire and Rescue on the south side of the building." Steve took off before mumbling, "We gotta get up there."

Wanda began to collapse back onto the ground. Melody moved up to her, wrapping her arms around her, trying to get Wanda to just look at her, so she could tell her everything was going to be okay. She just kept looking up at the destruction as tears filled her eyes. "It's okay." Melody told her while rubbing her back. That was the only thing she could do right now. "You're okay."

* * *

"Wow." Clint leaned on the island in the kitchen as Melody finished cutting up vegetables for the veggie tray. "Is she okay?"

Melody looked up at her husband before taking a deep breath. "No. She's not okay." With a sigh, she went back to chopping. "She killed innocent people. She didn't mean to, but she did. There was nothing but good intentions."

Clint turned to look at her with a shrug. "You know what they say about good intentions." With a furrowed brow, she turned to him, not sure what she was expecting him to say. "Leads to the road to hell or something like that." Melody rolled her eyes, really expecting wisdom for a moment, but then she remembered who she was talking to after he finished. "Samuel Johnson said that."

Melody let out a little chuckle as she shook her head. "Samuel Johnson did not say that."

"Well, then who said it?"

She took a moment, thinking it over. "Shakespeare maybe." Clint just shrugged, knowing that she could say any historical figure's name, and he would still not be any surer on who said it. "That quote also has 'paved' in there somewhere." Clint moved forward and picked up a piece of celery to eat as Melody let out a long breath, knowing they had to get back to talking about Wanda. "She's…" Melody took a moment to think of the word she wanted to use, "traumatized."

Clint turned back to the cupcakes he was perfecting before deciding to speak again. "I can talk to her if you want me to."

Melody picked up a carrot once she was done and began eating it. "I don't know. I feel like that's going to make things worse."

Clint turned to look at her, slightly offended. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean," Melody realized she kind of messed up. "You just weren't there, and I feel like it's different coming from a person who was there."

Clint turned around with the frosting bag still in his hands. "Yeah, but I've been through a similar situation."

"I know that, it's just…" Melody trailed off, not saying what she really wanted to say. "Can we just not do this on our son's birthday?" Clint let out a big sigh before turning back to the cupcakes. Melody bit her lip. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. "Look, I'm just – "

"No," Clint talked, not turning to look at her. "I get it." Melody turned to look at him with her eyebrows furrowed, not understanding what he was about to get into. "I'm retired now, so my experiences aren't valid."

"That's not what I said."

Clint turned around to look at her, pointing with the frosting bag. "Yeah, but that's what it sounded like."

Melody opened her mouth to argue back, but they heard, "Look who's up." When they both turned, they saw Tony walking into the kitchen with Andy in his arms. Tony turned back to Andy, giving him a big smile. "The birthday boy."

When Tony turned back to Clint and Melody, he noticed their faces were strained and uncomfortable. Tony dropped his smile as well as Andy's arm that he was holding with a large sigh. "You two were fighting again, weren't you?"

"No." Clint said with a chuckle as Melody said, "Yes."

Clint turned to look at her with annoyance as Melody cooed at Andy, and he began laughing. "Let's get you a bath." Melody reached her arms out as Tony gave him to her. She turned back to Clint, looking disinterested. "Can you hurry it up with those cupcakes, babe? The party starts in an hour." Clint angrily turned back to the cupcakes as Melody hurried down the hall to the bathroom, not wanting to be a part of this conversation anymore.

Tony moved towards the carrots and picked one up. Clint turned back to look at him, nodding to the carrot in his hand. "So, carrots are a Stark thing?"

Tony sighed while shaking his head and moving closer so he could get a good look at Clint's face. "Why are you guys being so weird lately?"

Clint turned back to the cupcakes, really not wanting to talk to his father-in-law about his marital problems. "You know, I study you, Steve, and Emily sometimes just to figure out what side of the family she gets stuff from."

Tony placed a simple hand on his shoulder before giving it a slight squeeze. Clint turned his head, but didn't look up at Tony, wondering what he was going to tell him. "Just talk to her, give her space, and respect what she wants to do with her life."

Clint turned to Tony, taking a deep breath before letting it out. "I retired because I don't want anything to happen to me or my family because of my work." He looked to the hallway that Melody had disappeared down. "What if something happens to her and I'm not there?"

Tony moved so Clint could turn to look at him. "Do you really think for a minute that you're going to talk Melody out of being an Avenger?" Clint sighed, knowing he was right. "She loves that job, and she's damn good at it."

Clint shook his head, still looking down that hallway before finally meeting Tony's eyes in desperation. "Yeah, but what if I lose her?"

Tony looked down, not wanting to think about that just as much as Clint did. "You're going to lose her if you try to keep her from that world." Clint swallowed before turning back to the cupcakes, a little more silent and thoughtful than before.

* * *

The party went on with the Avengers who could make it, other one-year-olds and their parents. Melody had Andy on her lap as Clint brought out the cupcake and everyone sang. In the middle of the song, Melody noticed a man off to the side wearing a suit and a red tie. He had white hair and a mustache to match.

Once the song was over, and Melody helped Andy blow out the candle, she made sure to move towards the man. He smiled to her, and before she could say anything, he decided to speak first. "Melody Barnes."

"It's Barton now." She told the man with a polite smile while crossing her arms. "And this is also a private party, and considering the fact that I don't know you, I would say you're not on the guest list." Clint heard Melody and began advancing towards the situation just in case she needed to tag team.

He gave her a polite smile back as his eyes drifted over to Clint, but their smiles were seeming to be hostile. "My name is Thaddeus Ross,"

"Yeah," Clint began as he stepped forward and put an arm around Melody. "I would say not on the list."

"Secretary of State."

Melody shrugged before continuing. "And what brings you to a one-year-old's birthday party?"

Tony then joined the group, trying to get Clint and Melody to look at him, but they couldn't take their eyes off of Ross. "I actually invited him."

They both turned to Tony, both confused, but Melody felt like she needed to be mad. "Why?" Clint asked it more confused, but all Melody could do was look at Tony.

She knew he was feeling guilty these days, but she didn't think he would actually take it to involving the government on their operations when that worked so well the last time. "Because of Wanda?" Melody asked while moving closer to Tony. "Because of the Avengers?" Tony didn't say anything, he just pleaded with his eyes. "Well," Melody sighed out as she turned to look at Clint who was matching her irritated stare, "I guess the party's over."

* * *

_**Hey everyone, I know I've been gone for a long time, and I just wanted to explain. So for the past year, I've gone through the worst depressive episode I have ever gone through. It lasted for about a year and I couldn't find the energy or time to do anything even if I wanted to. Around **_**_January, I began to busy myself in hopes that it would take me out of my depression, and even if that helped, I got exhausted and overworked. I didn't really start to feel whole again until I got my dream job this summer. I began to feel like I could jump back into this which I love. It's been a hard year, and this summer has also given me it's trials (a hospitalized mentor, and difficulties with my job), but I'm starting to feel like myself again. I'm sorry I've been gone without a word, I just couldn't find myself to write, or when I did write, I hated everything I came up with. I'm back now, and it feels so good. I didn't want to ignore the fact that I had been gone for way too long, and I didn't want to keep any secrets from you all. Sometimes when it comes to mental health, you have to step away and really work on yourself, and that's something I've learned this past year. _**

**_For this story, I've wrote it differently than I have ever wrote a fanfiction before. I sat down and wrote it all out, so the chapters are ready to go, I just have to edit. Because of that, I'm going to release the chapters once a week. Thank you all for understanding. Thank you for coming back. Thank you for sticking with me. I hope I can make my absence up to you!_**


	2. The Accords

Melody sat at the end of the table with her arms crossed, and Clint had the seat beside her. Despite his want to retire, he just kept getting pulled back, and most of it was because of his wife. Melody turned over to look at Tony who was sitting off by himself. He offered her a half smile, but she quickly turned away. He took a deep sigh, knowing she was going to get even more upset once Ross offered his plan.

Ross stood at the head of the table, looking out at each of them before beginning. "Five years ago, I had a heart attack and dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something forty years in the Army had never taught me. Perspective." Melody and Clint shared a look of confusion, not seeing where he was taking this. "The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt." Ross took turns looking at each Avenger, obviously having gratitude in his eyes. "You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word 'vigilantes.'"

"What word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked. They all looked back at Ross, wondering what his answer was going to be.

"How about 'dangerous'?" Melody sat up and looked at Tony, but he did his best to avoid eye contact with her. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

He moved to the TV which pulled up a map of the world with glowing orange dots throughout. Each place that was highlighted, meant something to Melody. "New York." With the click of a button, the map zoomed in on a dot in Manhattan, and they were forced to watch clips of the destruction of the city during their fight with Loki. Melody swallowed, really not prepared for this. "Washington, D.C." Melody didn't even want to look at that one, but she also felt like there was an injustice not to look. She looked up right when the ship had landed in the water. She remembered waking up as Bucky carried her to the shore. While that was happening, people were drowning because they were pulled in by the current of the water. She took a deep breath as Clint began rubbing her forearm. "Sokovia." They watched buildings fall, that one hurting Clint more than the others. Melody reached for his hand under the table, the two of them intertwining their fingers without event thinking. "Lagos."

Melody turned to look at Wanda, seeing the pain that flickered across her eyes before looking down. "I think that's enough." Melody told Ross while staring him down. He nodded to his assistant, and then the screen went blank.

"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate." Melody was ready to get defensive until he reached his hand out to his assistant who handed him a thick book. "But I think we have a solution. The Sokovia Accords." He slid the book towards Melody which she picked up and began thumbing through the thick pages as Clint read over her shoulder. "Approved by one-hundred-seventeen countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization." Rhodey and Melody both looked up and made eye contact, thrown off by what Ross had just said. He motioned for her to pass it over, and she did. "Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

Melody let out a little scoff, everyone looked up at her except Steve who began talking his point, "The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that."

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Steve was silent. "If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes you can bet there'd be consequences."

"Yeah," Clint stretched the word out when looking up at him. "Because you want your tabs on Banner."

He stared at them, Melody offering him a tiny smile. "We do our research too, Secretary." Her smile went away and was replaced with anger. "You nearly killed him because of what he is, and then used him. How is that any different from what you want to do to us?"

Ross slowly moved towards the two "Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works." He looked directly at Melody as he continued his speech. "Believe me, this is the middle ground." Once he was back to the head of the table, he went back to addressing all of them. "One of your own has even been so kind to help us establish these accords. SHIELD's former supervisor, Emily Carter." Everyone at the table slowly turned their heads to look at Melody whose jaw was slacked in astonishment. Her mother really helped make this? Was she really that dissatisfied with the Avengers' most recent performance?

Rhodey looked down at the book that was under his hand before looking back up to Ross. "So, there are contingencies?"

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords." Steve turned around to look at Tony with his jaw dropped, but Tony wouldn't look at him. Steve couldn't believe that Tony waited until now to bring this up when it was only three days away, or why anyone hadn't brought this to their attention before now. "Talk it over."

Everyone in there seemed annoyed, confused, and skeptical. All of the Avengers had to come down to one decision? Like that was going to go over well. They could barely decide on what to have for breakfast when they were all at the tower. "And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asked while looking down at the book that had been past her way.

"Then you retire."

There was this uncomfortable silence in the room, all having different thoughts about the Accords, but was it really worth retiring over? To Melody it wasn't.

* * *

They had been in that room talking things through for an hour. Andy was fussy, and Melody had no choice but to bounce him as Clint made a bottle. Currently, Sam and Rhodey had gotten into it and were face to face with their arms crossed. "Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor which is one more than you have. So, let's say we agree to this thing."

Tony was slumped in a chair with his hand over his face, taking in deep breaths as he rolled his eyes. "How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

"A hundred-seventeen countries want to sign this. One hundred-seventeen, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it.'"

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam yelled over everything else that was going on.

Clint came back into the room with a bottle as Andy got louder. "Can you guys like…not stress my baby out on his birthday?"

"Please." Melody groaned as Clint took him from her to give her a break. Melody let out an arm stretch, trying to remember a time when her arms weren't sore because of her growing child.

"I have an equation." They all turned to look at Vision, not sure what he would offer to the group, but it had to be better than what they had right now.

Sam laughed a little before speaking again, "Oh, this will clear it up." Melody gave him a slightly irritated look before nodding to Vision. Clint was secretly hoping it was something that would work against the Accords.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially." Melody and Tony shared a look. They had been dealing with this for eight years. "During the same period the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

Steve looked up from the Accords booklet in his hand as he was going over every single thing detailed in it. "Are you saying it's our fault?"

"I'm saying there may be a causality." Andy had finally gone to sleep in Clint's arms as he was putting him into a nearby playpen for the remainder of his nap. Melody began to feel slightly jealous. Why was it always Clint he fell asleep with, and hardly ever her? "Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe." Melody had to admit he had a point. No matter how much she didn't want to do this, it was beginning to make a lot more sense. "Oversight. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

"Boom." Rhodey commented.

Clint looked over at Tony, finding that he was still slumped in his seat. Someone had to be on his side here. He was hoping Tony might be, but found that very unlikely considering he was the one who called Ross here. "Tony." With a sigh, his hand fell from his face to look at him as he stepped forward. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

Steve turned to look at him, not even questioning what Tony's thought was on the entire issue. "It's because he's already made up his mind."

Melody turned to him with a tight smile, still trying to show him her anger. "You did bring Ross here on the day of my son's first birthday party to get us to sign this thing, right?" Clint began to have hope. Maybe Melody didn't want to sign these Accords at all.

Tony took a deep sigh looking back and forth from Steve to Melody. "Boy, you both know me so well." He then sat up, trying to massage the back of his head. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache." He then got up and moved to the kitchen sink. "That's what's going on. It's just pain. It's discomfort." Tony was the one who seemed so far away right now, and everyone was just trying to decipher what was going on in his brain right now. He turned back to them, more annoyed than angry. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

With a reluctant sigh, he pulled out his phone, and projected from that phone was a picture of a young man, probably right out of college. Before anyone could voice their confusion, Tony decided to be the one to speak. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service."

Every word Tony said was filled with bitterness and resentment. "Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where. Sokovia." Tony threw down a packet he had in his hand, making Melody jump. Well, she finally knew what drove him to this. Guilt. It was beginning to work on her after watching those videos. How many people had been hurt or killed in the crossfires of their good doings? "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. We won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass."

Tony angrily threw a pill into his mouth and took a sip of his coffee before moving closer to them and shrugging. "There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Everyone turned over to Steve, and then back to Tony, wondering what his response was going to be.

"Who said we're giving up?"

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame."

"I'm sorry, Steve." Rhodey spoke while shaking his head. "That is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA."

"No," Melody spoke up, finally to offer some insight. "But it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change." She looked around at all of them before taking a deep sigh. "I mean, that's how we found out SHIELD was actually HYDRA."

"That's good." Tony advanced toward her while speaking angrily, trying to use it as an intimidation tactic for her. "That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony," Steve spoke, getting up to defend Melody's opinion. "You chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere, we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

Tony looked at her as Steve did, trying to get her to agree with one of them. Melody's fist balled up, somehow knowing this was going to happen the second she noticed there were two sides forming. "No." She said in a commanding voice while looking back and forth at them. They both then looked down, realizing what they were doing to her wasn't fair. "I'm not going to be the one in the middle of this. Do not pit me against either of you."

Tony took a step closer to them both, mostly staring at Melody. "If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact." He began to walk away from them both, but looked back. "That won't be pretty."

"You're saying they'll come for me?" They all turned to Wanda, looking nervous for her.

Vision turned to her with intense eyes. "We would protect you."

"Maybe Tony's right." They all then turned to Natasha, some more surprised than the others that she was vouching for Tony. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off – "

Sam let out a chuckle as he got closer to Natasha, wanting to make sure this was the same person he still knew and loved. "Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?"

"I'm just reading the terrain." She sighed out in an annoyed voice. Clint and Melody made eye contact with each other from across the room. Clint found his way physically closer to Steve, and when Melody looked down, she found her place directly in between them. "We have made some very public mistakes." Natasha continued which took Melody out of her thoughts for a moment. "We need to win their trust back.

Tony leaned forward, also trying to make sure this was the same Natasha he knew and loved. "Focus up. I'm sorry." Natasha looked back to Tony, confused at what he was getting at. "Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"

With a deep sigh, Natasha began shaking her head without taking her eyes off of Tony. "I want to take it back now."

"No, you can't retract it." Melody rolled her eyes as she turned back to look at Tony. He would do anything for a vote right now.

Both Steve and Melody's phones went off at the same time. They both looked at each other with confused faces before averting their eyes to the message in front of them that was from Emily. _She's gone. In her sleep._

Melody quickly looked up at Steve, but his eyes were glued on the phone screen. She didn't know what to do for him right now. Should she comfort him, or would that just make it worse? Steve still didn't look away from his phone when he said, "I have to go."

Everyone watched Steve walk off, and Melody quickly began to follow. Once she found him in the stairwell, she placed a hand on his arm. She knew that Steve wasn't going to let her see the full blown panic attack, so she just stayed there, rubbing his upper arm with her thumb while looking down, giving him a chance to cry without her seeing.

* * *

Back on the farm, Clint and Melody were helping the kids pack up their suitcases to fly out to London for Peggy Carter's funeral. Lila was following Melody around, her feet thudding against the floorboards with angry stomps. "Why do we have to go again?"

"Are you kidding me?" Melody asked while turning back. "It's London. You don't want to go to London?"

Lila pulled out her cell phone while leaning against the bar near the kitchen. "Auntie Nat said there's going to be a big meeting that you're both going to in Vienna, and I don't want to spend my time all alone in a hotel room while you and dad are out doing stuff."

Melody moved to the laundry to find some more clothes for Andy's suitcase. "It's your great-grandmother's funeral. You're going."

Melody turned back to the suitcase and began stuffing it full. "It's _Andy's_ great grandmother's funeral." That stopped Melody in her tracks. Lila wasn't wrong. She had just…never called that situation out before. That Melody was an outsider in this family they had established already. The step mom. "And you won't let us do anything fun in London if we're there for a funeral."

Melody turned around with an irritated smile on her face. "Fine. Then just stay here by yourself. Good luck cooking yourself dinner every night while your dad, Cooper, Andy, and I are in London."

Lila looked hurt at what she had said. "Why are you being so mean?"

"Why are you being a jerk?" Melody asked slightly louder.

Clint came in with his hands up, trying to deescalate the situation as best as he could. "Whoa, ladies, what's going on in here?"

"I don't want to go to London." Lila complained.

Clint looked to Melody and then back at Lila, bewildered. "Are you kidding? It's London."

"Oh my god." Melody mumbled under her breath before hurrying out of the living room and out to the backyard through the kitchen door.

Clint watched her as the door slammed before turning back to Lila. He pointed at her, trying to make sure his point was put across. "Get packing. You're going to London." She let out a loud groan. "And you need to stop being disrespectful to your mother. She's _trying_."

"She's_ not_ my mother." Lila huffed out before going upstairs.

Clint watched her walk up the stairs, stunned by what she had just said. Lila had always been so accepting of Melody into their family. The first week Melody stayed at the house, Lila slipped up and called her, "mom" at least three times, and had continued to call her mom when they got married. It was only until recently that "mom" turned back into "Melody." "What the _hell_ has gotten into you?" Her response was the slamming of her bedroom door. With a loud sigh, Clint went outside to talk to Melody, knowing she would listen to him more than Lila would right now.

Once he made it out there, he noticed Lucky on the porch, not wanting to be anywhere near Melody who was throwing her daggers into one of the archery boards. When she noticed Clint, she let out a deep sigh. "It's her stupid friend Caitlin." Melody muttered before throwing another dagger. "Caitlin's mom just started dating a twenty-something-year-old and Caitlin is extremely disrespectful to her, so now Lila thinks she can be disrespectful to me."

Clint sighed while he watched dagger after dagger surround the one dagger that was on bullseye. "I will talk to her."

Melody looked at her target board and took a deep breath before speaking again. "She's also pissed I've been gone trying to find Rumlow."

She threw the knife and Clint was pretty sure it embedded itself into the tree with that force. With a sigh Clint stepped behind her and began to rub her shoulders. Melody began to lean into it while shutting her eyes. "If it'll make it better, I can stay with the kids and you can go to London."

Melody stopped relaxing and turned around to look at Clint. "You think that'll make it better?"

"Well," Clint had to think about his words for a minute, knowing he was close to stepping on her toes. "If Lila really doesn't want to go, I can stay here. It may be better for you to spend time with your mom and Steve rather than everyone."

"What about the meeting?"

Clint shrugged before finally saying, "I'm retired, Melody."

Melody shook her head and looked down. "You don't want the Accords."

"I have no opinion on them."

"Oh, you have an opinion." Melody laughed out.

"Yeah," Clint shrugged, his voice switched to a hushed whisper so the kids wouldn't know they were fighting. "I do have an opinion, but my opinion doesn't matter because I am not an Avenger."

"Oh my god!" Melody put her hands on her head, trying her hardest not to make this into a fight. "Is this_ still_ about what I said to you about Wanda?"

"Melody," Clint was laughing to keep himself from getting angry. "This is your thing. I am not involved with this…organization anymore."

"You are still a _founding member_ of this organization."

"Fine." Clint almost yelled, reaching the end of his temper. "I think the Accords are a huge waste of time. I_ don't_ trust Ross. I _don't_ think they're a good idea. And the only reason you think the they are a good idea is because you can continue to be an Avenger if you sign them. You are so _brainwashed_ by Tony, and you are so _obsessed_ with being an Avenger that you are completely blinded of the fact that the government is corrupt and will fuck _everything_ up."

There was an intense silence between the two while they were trying to figure out what to say to the other. "Hey," They both turned to the kitchen door to see Barney standing there with Kim behind him. Clint began to massage his developing headache while Melody just continued to look at them. "We were just checking to see if you wanted chicken for dinner."

"Or something else." Kim added.

"Yeah," Barney told them with a shrug, trying not to make this conversation more awkward than it already was. "Whatever you guys want. Melody? Chicken? Steaks? Pasta?"

"You know, I don't think I'm staying for dinner." Clint looked up at her while taking a deep breath. "I should probably get to London as soon as possible."

"Our flight is tomorrow morning." Clint sighed out, still staring at her.

Melody turned to him, shrugging. "I can exchange you and the kids' tickets for one tonight, and I feel like that's probably best."

"Melody – "

"But who knows?" Melody asked while throwing her hands in the air. "My easily persuaded and obsessive nature can cloud my judgements sometimes."

"Yeah," Barney said again, motioning to the kitchen. "We're just gonna go back inside and ask the kids what they want."

"Smart idea, Barney." Clint yelled out as the door closed. When he turned back to Melody, he took a deep breath, trying to plead with his eyes. "Don't do this. Don't just leave because I said something stupid. We can work it out."

Melody took a shaky sigh before meeting Clint's eyes again. "You know, our relationship has always been a little fucked up, but we've always supported each other. Always."

With a whirlwind, Melody hurried back into the kitchen and slammed the door after her. Clint stood there as his chest heaved and he balled his fists up. He grabbed one of Melody's daggers that was still laying on a tree stump before throwing it into the target board while screaming out, "God dammit!"

_**Princess2020: Honestly, Tony! Thank you for the review!**_

_**Josiebhawk: This review made me so happy. Thank you for the support, and I'm so happy to be back!**_

_**I hope you all liked this one! Melody and Clint are not having a good time right now. How do you all think they're going to solve this? Remember to leave a review!**_


	3. The Bombing of Vienna

LONDON

Steve had been elected as a pallbearer. Melody watched him, feeling her heart break when she saw his tear-filled eyes. She knew Steve. She knew he wasn't going to let anyone see his tears in such a public place. So, when he came back to his seat in between her and Sam, she grabbed his hand and gave a tight squeeze. With a gratuitous smile, he pulled her hand to his mouth and gave a grateful kiss on the back of her hand.

The ceremony continued, and with Melody placed between a very upset Steve and Emily, she really wished Clint was here. She didn't really have time to be upset. Peggy had meant so much more to each of them than she had to her, but still she felt a sadness saying goodbye to her grandmother. If Clint was here, he would be able to read her emotions and give her that comfort she was so desperately seeking. Now she was wishing her anger wouldn't have gotten the best of her.

The priest looked out into the audience, giving them all a nod before speaking. "And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words."

Once she took the podium, Sam began hitting Steve's arm. He looked up, and his jaw dropped. "Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD, but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy."

After a while, Melody noticed Steve's face, and leaned over to him. "Did you really not know she was my cousin?"

"No." Steve whispered it out like all the breath had been taken from him. Melody slowly looked back to the front, wondering if Steve was ever going to try to start something with her.

"She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related." She gave the last part of that sentence to Steve, almost as if to apologize. "I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. She said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move...it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree...look them in the eye and say, 'No, you move.'"

Both Melody and Steve sat there for a moment after Sharon had finished that speech. They both felt so strongly about the Sokovia Accords in the opposite ways. Who was the one that needed to plant themselves, and who was the one who needed to move?

After the funeral, everyone had trickled out of the church except Steve. Melody had spent some time speaking with her mother and Rhodey to make a game plan for when they got to Vienna. After that, she knew that she had to go back inside and talk to Steve. When Steve saw her walk in, he felt he was able to relax for a moment and let his guard down. When she got to him, she playfully bumped her arm, making Steve's lips tug into a half smile. "When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone." They both turned to look at the portrait of her still set up, each filled with sadness at her absence in the world. "Then I found out she was alive. I was just lucky to have her."

"She had you back, too."

Steve turned to look at her, giving her a little smile. "How are you doing?"

Melody took a deep sigh while still looking at her portrait. No one had asked her that yet. Everyone was too busy grieving. "She was such an inspiration to me." Melody almost whispered the words out like she was in a trance. "What Shar said," she let out a little laugh, "that would just be the tip of the iceberg. She was filled with all these stories, and insight, and wisdom."

"Shar?"

Melody turned back to look at him, giving him a slight smile. "That's what she used to call Sharon." She turned back to her portrait. "After my mom left, I really didn't get to see her, but when I got her back, it was almost like I had never left." Melody then looked down, feeling the memories take over her. "But after SHIELD fell…I was just so busy."

Steve moved toward her, placing a hand on her shoulder while giving her a comforting smile. "She knew how much you loved her."

Melody nodded before turning back to Steve. She took a deep sigh, afraid that this was going to be their last civil meeting for a while. "Go ahead. Ask me the question you really want to ask."

Steve met her eyes before taking a deep sigh. "Who else signed?"

"Tony, Rhodey, Vision."

There was a slight pause. Steve wondered if bringing him up was a good idea considering she came to the funeral alone. "Clint?"

Melody let out an angry chuckle before shaking her head. "Says he's retired. And even if he wasn't, he still wouldn't sign those Accords. Made that pretty clear the other night."

Steve knew they were having communication problems in general, but he didn't realize these Accords were adding to the problem. He almost pressed more, but there was this look she giving him, as if she was asking, _please don't make me go into more detail_. He waited an extra moment before continuing with his list. "Wanda?"

"TBD." Steve's glance kind of went down, and Melody knew that Steve was a little disappointed that they didn't see eye to eye when they had been a partnership for so long. "I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet." He let out a long sigh while shutting his eyes. "Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than _how_ we stay together."

"What are we giving up to do it?" He picked his head back up to look at her, giving her a slight shake of the head. "I'm sorry, Mel. I can't sign it."

She gave him a simple smile of understanding because honestly she still wasn't totally sure if the signing of the Accords was necessarily a good thing. "I know."

"Then what are you still doing here?"

She gave him a sad smile, knowing this had to be one of the hardest days for him. "I didn't want you to be alone."

His face softened as he pulled her into a hug. "Come here." While standing there in her embrace, he let a few silent tears roll down his cheeks. Melody also did the same. They were both able to finally let go of the judgements and just share their raw emotions together.

* * *

VIENNA

Melody, Emily, and Rhodey stood back while everyone was getting settled into their seats. "You know," Rhodey began. "I'm glad none of the annoying Avengers came."

Melody's eyebrows furrowed before turning back to Rhodey. "Who constitutes as an annoying Avenger?"

Rhodey stood there in silence, mulling it over as everyone else waited before he finally landed on a name. "Sam sometimes."

Melody stood there for a moment, thinking it over before finally shrugging in agreement. "Alright, I'll give you that." Melody continued to stand there. "Tony? Does he constitute as an annoying Avenger?"

"Oh, the most annoying." Emily jumped in just before Melody let out a bubbly laugh. She was sure this was the first time she had truly laughed in a few days, and it felt so good.

Natasha began to make her way to them with T'Challa. "Supervisor, Colonel, Melody," Melody took a deep sigh at the fact that she was surrounded by everyone else who had official titles, and she was just referred to as her name. Maybe once these Accords were signed, they could have titles. "This is Prince T'Challa of Wakanda."

T'Challa looked behind him to see all of the politicians talking before referring to the tight corner they had all been tucked into. "I suppose none of us are used to the spotlight." He then looked to Melody. "Well, I am sure you're used to it by now from your childhood."

Melody nodded before referencing to everyone behind them. "Oh, well, it's not always so flattering."

He offered a little smile before returning back to Natasha. "You seem to be doing all right so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill," They all turned to Natasha after that, to notice her tiny smile at the mention of her standing up to everyone a few years ago. "I wouldn't think you'd be particularly comfortable in this company."

"Well, I'm not."

"And that alone makes me glad you are here, Ms. Romanoff."

"Why?" Melody asked while looking around the room. She wondered if he felt as torn as she did. "You don't approve of all this?"

"The Accords, yes." Melody simply nodded, but she wished she could say she wasn't the only one torn on this decision. "The politics, not really. Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred."

Rhodey offered a little smile before saying, "Unless you need to move a piano." Melody shut her eyes. He was just so filled with dad jokes, and he didn't even know it.

"Ms. Romanoff." They all turned to see the king of Wakanda approaching them all. "Mr. Rhodes. Ms. Carter. Mrs. Barton." He took his turn shaking each of their hands with this smile that made them all feel like they were greeting an old friend.

"King T'Chaka." Melody began, feeling she needed to be the first to address what happened as one of the leaders of the group. "Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria."

He placed an arm on her shoulder while giving her a sincere smile. "Thank you." He then looked to everyone else tied to the Avengers. "Thank you for agreeing to all of this. I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today."

Melody took a deep breath before nodding without making eye contact with the king, she almost whispered out, "Yes, so am I." Part of that was her wish for Clint to be there as well.

One of the organizers of the meeting announced for everyone to take their seats. They all gave each other a quick goodbye except Emily and Melody who walked away a little bit so no one would hear them. Emily smiled and moved towards Melody. "Anything in my teeth?"

"I don't see anything." Melody grabbed Emily's hands before giving her a smile. "I'm proud of you for helping with these Accords, Mom."

Emily shook her head before brushing a loose strand of hair behind Melody's ear. "I'm proud of you for being responsible." She took a deep sigh, resting her palm against Melody's cheek. "Oh, Melody, you're a real hero. You're going to be the best of all of us."

Melody blinked for a few moments. She was pretty sure this was the first time her mother had called her a hero after six years of saving people. She didn't know if it was mother's intuition, but Emily somehow knew Melody needed to hear those words right now. Melody moved towards Emily, giving her one of the biggest hugs she had ever given her mom. She was sure she hadn't given her a hug this big since she was a small child. When they parted, Emily stared at Melody for a moment before nodding for her to take a seat. "I'll see you after."

Melody had found her seat next to Natasha, and Emily took her seat more upfront. T'Chaka was currently giving a speech as T'Challa stood off to the side. Everyone was listening intently until there was screaming and dogs barking outside. T'Challa came running forward yelling, "Everybody get down!"

After that, everything seemed to move in slow motion as the explosion enveloped the room. The long row of desks Melody was sitting at had been forced back. Luckily, it had encapsulated everyone on her row from the explosion. Natasha turned to her, panicked. "How the hell do we get out?"

Melody looked up, deciding the only way they were getting out was if they could lift this thing. She got a grip of it, and with a deep breath began lifting it. The only problem was once she had it all the way off, she was just standing there, holding a row of desks she wasn't sure what to do with.

She looked around, trying to figure out what she was going to do until she noticed a purple sleeve towards the bottom of the risers. Melody quickly moved out of the row of people before placing the desks down where the windows separating that room and the hallway once were.

Now that it was no longer in her hands, she hurried down to the bottom level of the risers. There were dead bodies all along where the first row once was. Then she saw Emily. "Oh my god." She whispered before hurrying to her. When she reached Emily, she had cuts and bruises running along her face, and her eyes were shut with a long, bloody gash running across her nose. "Mom." She tried shaking Emily, but nothing happened. She then moved her shaky hands to Emily's neck to check for a pulse. She kept her hand there for over a minute and felt nothing. She couldn't fully process it. Her mom wasn't going to get up. "No." She cried out before collapsing onto her mother's chest and gripping onto her silk shirt.

Rhodey hurried over to Melody, and once he saw Melody cradling Emily's body, he felt his knees buckle as he dropped to the floor. He continuously searched for some sign of life. He half expected Emily to sit up, hug her daughter and then go to him. Kiss him. Calm his worries. But she couldn't.

Melody looked over to see T'Challa doing the same with his father's body. They both made eye contact at one point. They were shaking, tears were flowing down their faces, they both looked heavy, and aged at least ten years. Melody looked back to her mother and tucked a loose blonde strand behind her ear just like she had done to her earlier before letting out a guttural, agonizing scream.

* * *

Melody had found a park bench to be on. She just sat there, looking off into nothing, slightly shaking. She found her things and then lost track of everyone else. She needed a moment away from everyone and everything. She was hoping no one would find her. Actually, she was hoping everyone thought she died in the blast. Then no one would bother her.

She heard a faint ringing come from her purse which broke her out of her trance. She fished her phone out and realized there were cracks all over her screen now. And Clint had called eighteen times. She answered the phone, but waited a moment to speak, trying to remember how to be…_there_ again. "Hello?"

"_Melody, oh my god_," Clint nearly screeched through the phone. She could hear the worry in his voice. "_I've been calling you. Are you okay?_"

"There was a…uh…bombing in Vienna."

"_I know_." Clint was able to speak calmly while also holding such urgency. "_That's why I'm calling. Are you all right?_"

Melody honestly didn't know. Physically? She thought so. Emotionally? She didn't think she had _ever_ been emotionally all right. Mentally? As mentally stable as you could expect someone to be after cradling their mother's dead body until an EMT tore her off. "Emily's dead."

Clint paused for a moment, not sure what to say. "_Melody…I'm sorry…I should have –_ "

"You should have been here."

She could hear shuffling on the other end of the phone which she assumed was Clint trying to pack. _"I'm going to Vienna right now."_

Melody wanted to laugh. "What are you gonna do? I already held my _dead _mother in my arms." Tears began to flow down Melody's cheeks again, and she felt her chest tighten. "I needed you here with me." Every word she said had transformed into a cry, and she was quickly gasping between each sentence. "I don't give a shit about the Accords. I don't care that they think Bucky did it. I _needed _you next to me while they stuffed her body in a bag and wheeled her away." Melody let out a loud sob while putting her face in her hands. Clint just sat in silence on the other line, not sure what to say. "You can't _fix_ that, Clint."

There was a long pause as Melody began to pull herself together again, and Clint was trying to find someway to help. _"Melody – "_

"I'll be home in a week or so." She coughed a little, still being able to hear the hoarseness in her voice. "I'm going to be helping the CIA in Berlin. To locate Bucky."

"_You don't even know if he did it, Mel."_

"That's why he's going to be interrogated." She began to shake her head in thought. "And if it wasn't him…I'm gonna find who did this."

_**josiebhawk: Thank you! Definitely more conflict! Melody is siding with the accords while Clint is sticking to cannon and siding with Steve. I hope you liked this chapter!**_

_**Princess2020: I'm sorry, but I gotta**_

**_Guest: I'm so glad you're liking it!_**

**_Sorry this chapter is late. I've been super busy this week, but that just means you're getting the next chapter much sooner than normal! I hope you all liked this chapter, and RIP Emily. How do you think this is going to affect Melody? Remember to review!_**


	4. Errors and Omissions

Melody stood on the left side of Ross with Sharon on the right. Steve, Sam, and T'Challa were all escorted out of the car. Steve's pace slowed when he noticed Melody standing there with them. Did she take Emily's place, and help bring them into custody? He thought she didn't want to get her hands dirty with this. What the hell happened to make her change her mind?

Steve looked back to see Bucky in a protective mobile cell before looking back to the three in front of him. "What's gonna happen to him?"

"Same thing that ought to happen to you." He didn't look impressed with any of them. "Psychological evaluation and extradition."

Sharon made eye contact with Steve before nodding to Ross. "This is Everett Ross, Deputy Task Force Commander."

Steve turned to look at Melody, baffled by this whole situation. "What about a lawyer?"

Melody opened her mouth, but Ross began speaking instead. "Lawyer? That's funny." He then turned to the guard behind him. "See their weapons are placed in lockup." They all watched with helplessness as their uniforms were taken away from them. "We'll write you a receipt."

Melody motioned for them to follow her, but Sam was more focused on his things. "I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that."

As they walked off, Steve looked back at Bucky one more time to make sure he was okay. Bucky gave him a swift nod just before the doors shut, and Steve was able to pay his attention to his niece. She began to lead them down a long corridor covered in windows, directly above an indoor body of water. "You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell." She turned back to look at them, giving Steve direct eye contact. "Now, do me a favor, stay in it?"

Steve was annoyed, but he didn't want her to know it. "I don't intend on going anywhere." T'Challa answered her. She nodded, wishing everyone else would listen to her the way the prince was.

Natasha hurried towards Steve from the opposite end of the hall and began walking with him. "For the record, this is what making things worse looks like."

"He's alive."

By the time they got to the end of the hallway, they went through more offices which lead them to Tony talking angrily into his cell phone. "No. Romania was not Accords-sanctioned. Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup."

Natasha sighed as she continued walking while Steve, Sam, and Melody stopped. "Try not to break anything while we fix this." Natasha muttered to Steve quickly.

"Consequences?" Tony made direct eye contact with Steve while delivering the next part. "You bet there'll be consequences." He then looked puzzled at what was happening on the other line. "Obviously, you can quote me on that because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir." He then hung up the phone, looking to the three of them.

"'Consequences'?" Steve asked.

"Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted." Tony told them before walking off a little bit. "Had to give him something."

Steve didn't waste a moment, directing all of his words to Tony's back. "I'm not getting that shield back, am I?"

"Technically," Melody began while turning around to look at the two of them. "It's the government's property." She then looked to Sam, giving him a slight smile. "Wings, too."

Sam sighed while shaking his head and following them. "That's cold."

Tony turned back to them with a big smile. "Warmer than jail."

They had all filed into a room with screens on Bucky being prepped in the basement. Steve noticed Melody sitting in one of the offices by herself, looking down at something on her phone. He quickly muttered something to Sam about where he was going, and let himself in. Melody jumped at his entrance and let out a long sniff while dragging her sleeve across her face before giving him a broken smile. "Hey."

He moved closer to her, matching her smile before pulling out a chair next to her while adjusting it to make sure they were sitting face to face. Melody didn't like his face. It was filled with anguish, regret, sorrow, pity. She thought everyone else saw her as stronger than that. "Melody," Steve began with a heavy gravel in his voice, "I am so sorry about Emily."

All she could do was nod. She didn't know what to say to him. His best friend was being questioned for her mother's murder, and she was supposed to take his sympathies? Steve was always someone she could talk to because of their similar moral compass. She had stood by his side through a government take down, and now, they were on opposite sides of a new take down. A take down that had put her mother in a coffin.

Melody, tired of all of the apologizes and well wishes, looked to Steve with desperation on her face. "Steve, we _need_ these Accords." At the drop of his head, he let out a long, disappointed sigh, not expecting the propaganda to start so quickly. "It's not even about the legality of it anymore, it's about our safety." Steve steadied his eyes on hers again while his eyebrows curved up in confusion. "My mother's death would have never happened if these were in place."

"Hey," Steve spoke in a worried, yet harsh tone, "don't go down that road, Melody. You can't blame yourself."

"I'm not blaming _myself_." She told him with finality. "I'm blaming _us_." Steve slowly blinked, his eyes still fixated on Melody with his brows pulling closer together with more of a worry than confusion now. "If it wasn't for all the failed missions and avoidance, this bombing would have never happened."

"You don't know that, Melody." Steve couldn't take the way she was talking right now. She was always the one with the bubbly laugh, always looking on the bright side, but that Melody was fading away. To be honest, he hadn't seen that Melody for months.

She took a long moment to stare at Steve, knowing there was no easy way to say this. "I'm siding with Tony. The Accords _need_ to happen."

Steve felt a gripping feeling in his chest as his breath grew rapid at the anxiety spreading through him. "Melody, think it through a little longer. You are the one neutral member on the board, if you sign - "

"I signed yesterday morning." Steve felt his body slowly deflate as he leaned away from her. In Steve's eyes, he lost her.

* * *

"Hey, you wanna see something cool?" Steve turned to see Tony along with Melody walking into the office with him. Tony lifted up the box in his hands so Steve could get a proper look at it. "I pulled something from Dad's archives. Felt timely."

He opened up the box to reveal two old pens. With confused eyes, Steve turned to Melody, hoping she'd be able to shed some light on what was happening. "FDR signed the Lend-Lease bill with these in 1941. Provided support to the Allies when they needed it most."

Steve moved to sit down, sighing a little bit before looking back up at them with a smile. "Some would say it brought our country closer to war."

Tony sighed before looking down at him. "See? If not for these, you wouldn't be here." Tony and Melody each took a seat near Steve, Tony giving him a friendly smile. "I'm trying to," He turned to Melody at a loss for words. "What do you call it?" Before she could answer, he turned back to Steve, knowing what he was trying to say now. "That's an olive branch."

Steve stared at Melody, knowing that Melody didn't belong on Tony's side. "Is that what you call it?" Steve asked before looking around. "Are Pepper and Clint here? I haven't seen them."

Tony and Melody each stiffened before turning to look at each other. They both had time here to catch the other up on what was going on in their personal lives. Melody motioned for him to speak first. "We're kinda...Well, not kinda – "

"Pregnant?" Steve sounded more hopeful that it was the truth than anything.

"No." Tony scoffed. "Definitely not. We're taking a break. It's nobody's fault."

Steve gulped, realizing he shouldn't have brought it up at all. "I'm so sorry, Tony. I didn't know."

Tony continued staring at Steve for a long moment before speaking again. "A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA... and then Ultron. My fault. And then, and then, and then, I never stopped. Because the truth is I don't wanna stop. I don't wanna lose her. I thought maybe the Accords could split the difference."

Melody was staring at her hands perfectly folded on the desk. She took a deep sigh, knowing she had to answer the other half of Steve's initial question. "And Clint and I are…" she looked up at Steve, giving him a little smile, "are going through a rough patch right now."

Steve then gave her a sad smile that she wished he wouldn't waste his time on. "I'm sorry."

Tony shrugged then looked to Melody with a little smile. "In their defenses, we are handfuls." Melody just looked back down at her hands, rubbing her thumb along the back of her palm. Tony got up and began pacing around, really needing to move. "Yet, Dad was a pain in the ass, but he and Mom always made it work."

Steve got a soft smile on his face at the thought of his little sister happily married to one of the greatest men he knew. "I'm glad Maria married Howard. I only knew Howard when he was young and single. Maria was good for him."

"Oh, really? You two knew each other?" Tony asked sarcastically, glazing over what he said about his mother. "He never mentioned that. Maybe only a thousand times." Tony began to put on his blazer while thinking back on his childhood. "God, I hated you."

Steve looked back and forth at the two, not really sure what to say to them right now. "I don't mean to make things difficult."

"I know," Tony said while moving closer to Steve. "Because you're a very polite person."

"If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it." He turned to look at Tony who had made his way to the other end of the room. "Sometimes I wish I could."

Melody was still sitting across from Steve, looking right in his direction. "No, you don't."

He turned to look at her, giving a little smile. She was one of the only people who really knew him. "No, I don't. Sometimes – "

"Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth." Steve was taken aback by what Tony said. He knew he wasn't lying, but this was the first time Tony openly stated how much Steve got under his skin in a long time. "But I don't wanna see you gone. We need you, Cap. So far, nothing's happened that can't be undone, if you sign."

Melody leaned towards Steve again, and Steve was starting to feel trapped and outnumbered. "We can make the last 24 hours legit." She turned to look back to the screens as Bucky was still getting prepped. "Barnes gets transferred to an American psych-center instead of a Wakandan prison."

Steve looked down at the box of pens that was still near him. He then picked up one of the pens and moved to the other end of the room. "I'm not saying it's impossible." Tony and Melody shared a quick look, hoping that they were beginning to get somewhere. "But there would have to be safeguards."

Melody nodded, completely understanding what he was saying. "Of course."

"Once we put out the PR fire," Tony began, "those documents can be amended. I'd file a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated."

"Wanda?" Melody was also confused at the mention of Wanda. He hadn't told her anything about that. "What about Wanda?"

"She's fine." Tony assured while also shooting a look to Melody. "She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company."

"Oh, God, Tony." Steve paced away, and Melody continued to sit there, thinking everything over. She saw Wanda like a little sister, and Tony was holding her captive. "Every time I think you see things the right way…"

"It's a hundred acres with a lap pool. It's got a screening room. There's worse ways to protect people."

"Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony."

"She's not a US citizen."

"Oh, come on, Tony."

All of their words were beginning to overlap each other, but Melody just continued to sit there, thinking over what her mother would do if she was in this situation. She couldn't think of anything. "And they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction."

"She's a kid!"

"Give me a break!" Tony's voice boomed in that small room, leading to a few people who were standing outside of it to look over. "I'm doing what has to be done. To stave off something worse."

Steve just nodded while staring at Tony. He knew the Accords were a bad idea, and Tony just kept proving that point to him. "You keep telling yourself that." He then looked at the pen still in his hand and threw it down on the table next to the other one. "Hate to break up the set."

"Steve!" Melody called out but he had already stormed out of the room. She let out a long sigh before turning back to look at Tony. "And when were you going to tell me about Wanda?"

With an angry huff, Tony picked up his pens are hurried out of the room, leaving Melody alone staring at the glass table. Her phone began buzzing, and when she pulled it out of her pocket, she saw that it was Clint. All she could do was stare at the phone. She hadn't talked to him since she left Vienna a few days ago. The thing that she hated the most was that even though she was mad at him, she missed him. But she didn't want to swallow her pride just yet. She ignored the phone call and stepped out into the room with everyone else.

Bucky was still in his mobile cell, sitting across from a psychologist. After a few formalities, the psychologist was trying to get him to talk, but he remained silent. "I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions." Silence. "Do you know where you are, James?" Silence. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky." Melody took a deep breath as she began to play with the arrow necklace around her neck. She really didn't think he did it, and she was hoping he would be able to prove that with this interview.

"Tell me, Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"

Bucky sat there for a moment, looking completely shut down by what the man had said. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"You fear that if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don't worry. We only have to talk about one."

The power then went out, sending everyone into a frenzy to get the power back up, and to make sure that nothing had happened to Bucky or the psychiatrist. "Come on, guys, get me eyes on Barnes!" Ross yelled out while running to the end of the room to see if he would be able to do something.

"Friday," Tony spoke while tapping his glasses to get a visual. "Get me a source on that outage."

After a few minutes of chaos, Ross turned to everyone still in the room yelling, "Barnes has escaped!"

Melody stood there for a moment, still in denial. "What?" She whispered out just as Tony collided into her and pushed her forward with him.

She was suddenly speed walking with Tony and Natasha, finding herself on Tony's left. "Please tell me you brought a suit." Natasha asked.

"Sure did." They both turned to Tony enthusiastically. "It's a lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two-button."

"Oh my god." Melody groaned while rounding the corner.

"I'm an active-duty non-combatant."

Melody groaned, realizing she was also going in without anything. "And my only plans were a funeral and signing the Accords, so I have nothing."

Sharon then hurried to get in front of them before nodding them forward. "Follow me."

When they got downstairs, they saw Bucky was destroying the cafeteria. Tony and Melody ran to one end of the room while Natasha and Sharon took the other. Once Natasha reported they were in position, Tony was able to pull out the watch he kept in emergencies that had all of the Iron Man hand capabilities.

Tony shot off a sonic blast first, and then a bright light as Melody came in and kicked him in the leg. Bucky's one leg fell, and Melody tried to go for his ribs, but he grabbed her arm with his metal one and flung her behind him.

Tony then came in, delivering a couple of blows when Bucky held a gun up to Tony. He immediately enclosed the end of the gun with his Iron Man sleeve, and the hand absorbed the blow, but Tony was more shocked at the fact that he was going to kill him.

Melody jumped on Bucky's back when he wasn't expecting it and pulled the magazine out of the gun. Tony was left with just the gun in his hands so he pistol whipped Bucky, and Bucky threw him across the room.

Sharon then came out with a kick as Melody moved all of her weight back to bring Bucky down. The two wrestled on the ground for a minute until Melody was on top. With his metal arm, Bucky rammed it into her chest, and she crashed through the window walls.

Melody gasped for breath the moment she landed. Her biggest concern was that Bucky had made one of her lungs collapse or fractured her sternum. After a long moment, though, she was able to breathe again. When she stood up, she fully intended on going after Bucky again, but her chest was in awful pain that made her fall back to the ground. She unbuttoned a few of her buttons to find that she had a bruise already forming and swelling at the center of her chest.

T'Challa had thrown Bucky off the stairs he was trying to escape out of, and he had landed right next to Melody. A flicker of recognition passed over his face. "I didn't do this." He told her before standing up and running out of the building.

Melody continued to sit there, clutching her chest. Tony ran to her and was frantically checking her for wounds. Melody just stared off at the door Bucky ran out of. She could hear Tony rapidly talking about her chest and how she had to see a doctor, but she was still fixated on what Bucky had told her. What the hell happened that made him switch to a killing machine that fast?

* * *

Lila watched her dad quickly pack, feeling this heavy burden in her chest. "Where are you going?"

Clint jumped the second he heard his daughter behind him. He was a trained spy, but his daughter had inherited his light footsteps. She was constantly sneaking up behind him without realizing it. He placed a hand on his pounding heart before turning around to look at her. "I'm going to the Tower to get Wanda, and then possibly to find Melody."

Lila let out a small nod, but looked down, her face a mixture of confusion and sadness. "I wish I wouldn't have said what I said to her before she left."

With a long sigh, Clint shut his eyes, really wishing his kids wouldn't have to feel the stress of all of this. When he opened his eyes, he got down on his knees with a little smile. "She knows you didn't mean any of it."

Her little eyes traveled up to her father's, regret behind it. "Then why has she been gone for so long?"

"Hey," He put his hands on her shoulders while looking up at her with a reassuring smile, trying to find someway to not show that this was all breaking his heart too. "She's not here because of me, don't think for a second it's because of you."

She just nodded, not showing any indications that she actually believed what he had said to her. "Are you going to bring her back here?"

Clint blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out how to respond. He knew Melody wanted to come home, but the way he had been acting towards her lately and all of the recent trauma, he didn't know if she could come home. "I'm gonna try." He moved his hand to cup her cheek, giving her a big smile. "You be good for your aunt and uncle." She nodded before leaning in to give him a big hug.

When he wrapped his arms around his daughter, he let out a long sigh. He was scared. Scared for his family, and himself. What if one of them didn't come back? That was always a risk whenever they did any mission, but now there was a new risk of him getting arrested and not coming back. He made himself a promise right there. No matter what, he was either going to convince Melody to come with him, and they were going to run off together, or he was going to be taken to jail by his own wife.

_**Okay, I know I've been gone for a long time again, but my computer was broken and all of the chapters for this story were on it. It is now fixed and I am back for real this time! I hope you all like this chapter, and of course, thank you all for sticking with me. **_


	5. The Winter Soldiers

Secretary of State Ross was pacing around the room, obviously fuming with anger that Tony, Natasha, and Melody weren't sure how to deal with. "I don't suppose you have any idea where they are?"

"We will," Tony assured as Melody handed over a tablet that showed what area she had covered. "GSG 9's got the borders covered. Recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it."

Ross moved to her, snatching the tablet from her hands, his eyes staring down at her in disgust. "You don't get it, Barnes. It's not yours to handle." That's what they were all worried about. They were worried about outside forces capturing their friends. He turned to both Natasha and Tony to deliver the next part. "It's clear you can't be objective. I'm putting Special Ops on this."

Melody shook her head as she turned to look at Ross. This all seemed to be building up to something that they wouldn't be able to protect everyone else from. "What happens when the shooting starts? What, do you kill Steve Rogers?"

"If we're provoked." That answer scared Melody, and she was beginning to side with Steve. This was becoming something bigger and more sinister. "Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers. There are dead people who would be alive now." Tony moved to sit down as Ross got closer to him which seemed to be more threatening than normal. "Feel free to check my math."

Tony looked right up at him, not willing to go down without a fight. "All due respect, you're not gonna solve this with boys and bullets, Ross. You gotta let us bring them in."

Secretary Ross almost chuckled at that suggestion which was making the Avengers in the room fuming. "How would that end any differently than last time?"

"Because this time, I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt." Tony shot back before going back into his civil voice. "Seventy-two hours, guaranteed."

"Thirty-six hours." Melody turned to look at Natasha before letting out an exasperated sigh. This guy was getting on her nerves. He turned to look at her, making direct eye contact. "Barnes." He then turned to look at Natasha. "Rogers." Just as he was walking out the door he called the last name over his shoulder, "Wilson."

"Thank you, sir," Melody called after him, but it was more sarcastic than anything which led to an annoyed look from Tony.

He then moved his hand to cradle his arm. "My left arm is numb. Is that normal?"

Natasha got up and placed her arm on Tony's shoulder comfortingly. "You all right?"

"Always."

Melody looked down at the glass table in thought. This wasn't just about who was right and who was wrong anymore. This was about protecting the Avengers. It all felt like a witch hunt like Salem or the Red Scare, and if she didn't step in soon, her friends and family would be behind bars. "Thirty-six hours." Melody almost whispered while beginning to trace an object with her finger along the glass.

"We're seriously understaffed." Natasha immediately told her.

Melody tried to think of someone who she could call, but Clint would never be on the Accord's side. She wondered if any of the Avengers would be on their side. Instead, she looked back down and continued tracing on the table. "Yeah."

"It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now." Tony sighed before looking back over to Natasha. "Any shot?"

Natasha just stared at him for a moment "You really think he'd be on our side?"

Tony took a moment before sighing and saying, "No."

"I have an idea."

"Me, too." Tony looked up at Natasha with curiosity. "Where's yours?"

"Downstairs." She then realized she had no idea who Tony was talking about. "Where's yours?"

Tony shrugged casually before revealing his answer, "Queens."

They then turned to Melody, expecting her to have an answer, but she had nothing. "I guess I'll go get Vision then."

Tony then shared a little nod with Natasha, her immediately taking the signal, and getting up to go talk to T'Challa. After she walked out of the door, Tony turned his chair around, so he was looking at Melody. Her eyes flicked up to meet his, Tony able to see there was a weight on her in the way her shoulders hung and the dark circles under her eyes. It was a heavier weight than the normal one she carried around. "What's up, kid?"

A long sigh spilled out of her mouth as her fingers went to fiddle with her wedding ring. "This is just different." She was methodically moving the ring around in circles as it sat on the base of her finger, her eyes afraid to face Tony's again. "We've never had to fight against…ourselves."

Tony lightly placed his hand on top of hers, stopping the ring fiddling. She met his eyes as she slowly flipped her hand around for him to hold it. "I know it's strange, but I need you to stay focused."

Melody leaned further back into her chair, shutting her eyes for a moment. She had to remain on task. If any of this was going to work, they had to be prepared, and they had to follow through. "I know." She mumbled out.

As Tony continued to look at her, his brow began to furrow. He was worried about her. He had been ever since she fought with Clint before she went to London. "How are you really doing?"

She turned to look at him, a small chuckle coming out. "It feels like there's a bubble in my chest that is just waiting to burst." Her eyes then went down, Tony's body going stiff as he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Something is going to happen to me." He was waiting for more, but Melody was becoming lost in her ring again that when she finally spoke, it almost spooked him. "I can _feel _it." Her eyes went back to Tony again, offering a hidden smile. "And it's going to break me."

Once again, Tony leaned forward and took her hands in his. "You know what, though?" She gave him a very hallow and empty shoulder shrug. "I'm always on your team. You have me, and I won't let you break." The corners of her lips curled up into a small smile before falling again. "You always have me." With his right hand, he began brushing the loose strands of her hair back with his fingers. "And I'm not going anywhere."

She stared at him for a long moment before speaking. "Promise?"

His hand went to the side of her face, looking at her softly and knowingly. "I promise." He then leaned forward to kiss the top of her head before pulling her into a tight sitting hug. Melody's head laid on Tony's chest, and Tony's head on Melody's.

* * *

Bucky slowly woke up, finding himself in a factory with his metal arm pinned down by a machine. The first thing that came to his mind was when he saw Maria in that building. But it wasn't Maria. It was the other one. He had the vaguest memories of her. He remembered throwing her over his shoulder as he got both her and Steve out of the lake. He remembered taking a moment to stare at her. And that's when he knew she wasn't Maria, but he still felt this strong paternal bond to her.

"Hey, Cap!" He heard the one who was not Steve call before they both hurried into the room he was being kept in.

Bucky continued to groan as he tried to stretch as best as he could. Once he got a look at Steve, he smiled just a little bit. "Steve."

Steve wanted to hug Bucky and be his old friend, but he had to be cautious of him. He was completely unpredictable. "Which Bucky am I talking to?"

Bucky stared down at the concrete floor as he thought back on his old life. "Your mom's name was Sarah. Your sister, Maria, was born on March 14th, 1919." Bucky then got a random memory, chuckling slightly. "You used to wear newspaper in your shoes."

Steve got a small smile on his face, giving Bucky a nod because he knew he was talking to his friend and not the robot HYDRA had created. "Can't read that in a museum"

Sam, on the other hand, continued to feel skeptical about the whole thing. "Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?"

"What did I do?" Bucky ignored Sam's comment and was only looking at Steve for the answer to his question.

Steve debated on if he should tell Bucky everything, but he knew that would just lead to more self-hate. "Enough."

"Oh, God, I knew this would happen." That word was enough to give a sick feeling to Bucky's stomach. "Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there." Bucky turned to look at Steve, shaking his head, and pleading with his eyes that this could all just be one big nightmare. "All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Steve kept his cool demeanor, but on the inside, he had never been more terrified. They were dealing with HYDRA as a serious threat again, just when he thought they were done for good.

Bucky's eyes were still fixed on the floor, making out the pattern with his eyes, not wanting to let his mind wander, knowing it would go dark fast. "I don't know."

"People are dead." That finally made Bucky look at his old friend. They were dead because of him. "The bombing, the setup, the doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than, 'I don't know.'"

Bucky thought as hard as he could, but his brain was just so mudded. When he thought it was time to give up again, he remembered one thing. "He wanted to know about Siberia." That one word triggered a lot for his memory, especially the conversation he had with the psychiatrist. "Where I was kept. He wanted to know _exactly_ where."

"Why would he need to know that?" Steve asked, still holding himself steady.

Bucky's face grew dark as his eyes darted up to his best friend. "Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier." Steve's eyebrows contorted as Bucky continued to think back on it. "There was a dozen more. HYDRA gave them the serum, and they ended up being stronger and meaner. Eventually, after a couple of years, they have had enough of HYDRA bossing them around, and they took matters into their own hands."

With a long sigh, Steve crossed his arms and leaned onto the wall behind him. "Who were they?"

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history and that was before the serum." Sam opened his mouth to ask a question, but Bucky wasn't finished with his story. "And just to really stir the pot, after testing and perfecting the serum, they took my son and injected him with it."

Steve pushed himself off the wall with wide eyes, his arms automatically uncrossing. He quickly turned to look at Sam, knowing just like he did, that James Barnes was dead. Or, they thought he was. When he turned back to Bucky, he still wasn't sure he had heard him right. He had seen the footage of Bucky killing James Barnes himself. "What?"

"Wait," Sam spoke slowly, still struggling to wrap his brain around this, "so, Melody's father…he's been alive this whole time?"

Bucky continued to stare at Steve, seeing the confusion in his face. "The shot I gave him in the hospital was a precursor to the serum. Once he was declared dead, he was taken to the compound." There was this knot forming in Steve's stomach, and his throat was starting to close up. His nephew was alive. He had been the entire time, and no one had any idea. "I trained my son to kill and be HYDRA's weapon."

"They all turned out like you?" Sam asked. "Even James Barnes?"

Bucky finally met eyes with Sam for the first time since they had started this conversation. "Worse."

"The doctor," Steve's voice sounded a lot more urgent this time, "could he control them?

"Enough."

Steve glanced to Sam, finding they were able to put some of this man's plan together. "He said he wanted to see an empire fall."

"With these guys, he could do it." Bucky backed up Steve's claim, and both Steve and Sam turned to him, hanging onto every word, knowing the Winter Soldiers could be their newest threat. "They speak thirty languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize." Bucky's eyes lifted, his face a mix of emotions as he was fidgeting with his pant leg. "They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming." Steve leaned into the wall again, crossing his arms in thought. This was too much to handle. A dozen Winter Soldiers. One of them being own flesh and blood.

Sam walked over to Steve, standing directly in front of him, trying to make eye contact, but Steve was still looking off, his eyes fixated on no point. "This would have been a lot easier a week ago."

Steve finally found himself able to participate in the conversation, knowing they needed help, and they needed it now. "If we call Tony – "

"No, he won't believe us," Sam mumbled as Steve's mind already went to the next person they knew they should call. "Even if he did, who knows if the Accords would let him help."

"Melody might if – "

"We can't tell her _any_ of this."

Steve straightened up, confused by why Sam would even say that. This was about her family, her life. "This is about her father. She needs to know." Steve also then began to think that maybe this could be the push he needed to give Melody to put her on his side.

"If you tell her this, Steve, after she just lost her mom," Steve's eyes clicked to Sam, while slowly letting his head fall back into the wall, "she's going to spiral."

Steve knew he was right. He couldn't tell Melody now. With a sigh, he looked around the room, knowing it was just the three of them dealing with this. "We're on our own."

"Maybe not." Steve's head popped up to him quickly, his eyebrows knitted together. Was he suggesting they put together a team? "I know a guy."

* * *

Melody took a deep breath while sitting in her car outside of the Avengers facility. The Accords had backed them into this corner, and Melody was unsure if she could even find a way for them to get out of it. If they continued to do everything Secretary Ross said, maybe there would be a way. Or she could trick him into letting them out of it.

That's when she saw an explosion in the field outside of the facility. Melody quickly got out of her car and began to head that way but stopped. Sure, this could easily be a threat, but for some reason, it felt like more of a distraction than anything. What would be worth blowing up over there?

She turned to look back at the facility, thinking of all the people who would want to attack them. The list was long, but this distraction tactic felt way too familiar. She slowly made her way into the facility with her gun out. Once she made it upstairs and into the living area, she noticed not just Wanda standing there, but Clint as well as a Vision sized hole in the floor which went all the way down to the basement.

Melody looked up and locked eyes with Clint. They both looked like they needed to tell the other something, but they couldn't. "Hey, Mel." Clint finally said.

"Hey, Clint." Melody just shook her head before holstering her gun. She took a long time to stare at him, wetting her lips before continuing with what she had to say. "If you do this, if you two join Steve, I can't help you."

"So, you want us to be puppets?" Clint challenged.

She shut her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Clint watched her forehead spurt into a collection of wrinkles which made him begin to think that maybe she was right. "Ross is going to stop you, and he is not going to let any of you get away." Clint just continued to stare at her. He had already made up his mind, he was going with Steve, and there wasn't much she could do to change that. "He is willing to _kill_ you if it comes down to it. It's going to get very ugly. Clint, baby, _please_!"

Clint let out a large sigh. She knew that calling him, "baby" would pull at his heart. He knew what he was going to say was going to hurt her, but he had to go with his gut on this one. "Melody, I love you, but I can't go a way that I think is wrong just to protect myself."

Melody scoffed at that. "What about our kids? You are _going_ to go to jail," she moved her attention to Wanda, nodding in her direction, "both of you. Then what happens? You two gonna blast someone else through the floor?"

Clint dropped his bow to the ground and stared at his wife for a long moment. "I'm not going to fight you, but we're leaving one way or another."

A tear rolled down Melody's cheek. When she sniffled and began to wipe it off her cheek, she shrugged. There was nothing else she could do. She threw her hand in the air before stepping out of their way. "Be my guest."

With heavy steps, Clint walked up to her, moving his hand toward her face but she smacked it away before staring at him with cold, hard eyes. He knew this was going to destroy their relationship just like she had. His wrist went limp and his arm fell to his side before he grabbed Wanda's hand and hurried out of the building.

When the door closed, Melody let out a tearful gasp before placing her hand on her mouth so no one else could hear it, but that just lead to a lot of muffled cries from her. This was the first time that Clint had chose something other than their children over her. She felt like her heart was breaking. It felt so different than the other times he left. Something about this one had a finality to it. Like they could never go back to what they had.


	6. Familial Problems

They had all arrived at the Berlin airport. Steve planned to get himself and Bucky on a helicopter out of there. Tony planned to do what they could do to detain them so Ross's men wouldn't kill them. Tony's best way to make sure no one else would get hurt in this crossfire was to evacuate the airport.

Once Steve had suited up, he made it to the landing strip to run to the closest helicopter he could find, but Tony and Rhodey were waiting for him. They shorted out the helicopter before landing right in front of it, finding themselves face to face with Steve. When Tony took off his helmet, he was wearing a deep purple bruise lining his eye. "Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?"

"Definitely weird."

Steve let out a large sigh as the two turned their heads back to Steve. "Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

T'Challa then jumped down from one of the many parked planes before straightening himself out to look at Steve. "Captain.

Steve turned to him, knowing he was going to be a problem if this all came to a fight like he knew it was going to. Despite his worries, he gave the king a respectful nod. "Your Highness."

Melody then landed behind Steve from a jump. Steve slowly turned around to see her, his face twisting into vulnerability. She straightened herself out and stared at him for a moment before walking past him to join Tony while speaking. "Ross gave us thirty-six hours to bring you in." When she made it to Tony's right, she turned around to continue her stare with Steve. "That was twenty-four hours ago."

Tony turned from Melody back to Steve, offering him a small shrug. "Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy." Steve continued to remain cool and collected while Tony's anger was just firing up.

Tony took a step forward, hoping to break through to Steve at some point. "Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him." Melody furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. This also sounded like something they needed to take care of. Why the hell didn't Steve say anything sooner? They could have all handled each of these problems together if everyone just sat down and talked about everything. "I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

Natasha then approached Steve from his right side. All of this was just so shocking to Steve. The fact that Natasha was siding with Tony after everything. "Steve, you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

Steve simply turned back to Tony with a face that told them all that he wasn't baking down. Tony let out a sigh. "All right, I've run out of patience." Tony then cupped his hands to mimic a megaphone. "Underoos!" Peter then jumped out in his new suit, flung a web out to steal Steve's shield, and then another web to trap his hands. Then after landing on a nearby truck, he posed with the shield, looking up to see all of the other Avengers in awe. "Nice job, kid."

Peter then stood up, his body radiating the excitement he couldn't show with a mask over his face. "Thanks. I could have stuck the landing a little better, it's just…new suit." Peter then quickly realized that he shouldn't be saying anything bad about his new suit. "It's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's perfect. Thank you."

Tony sighed as he nodded to Peter. "Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation."

"Okay." Peter's eyes then drifted over to the man whose shield he had just stolen. "Cap. Captain. Big fan. I'm Spider-Man."

Melody turned to Tony, wondering where the hell he got this kid. He couldn't have been older than sixteen. "Yeah, we'll talk about it later." Tony was looking back and forth at Melody and Peter, trying to tell that to both of them.

"Dark Violet," Peter continued, making Melody look to him with her eyebrows raised, wondering what he was going to say now. "You're my favorite Avenger. I have a poster of you in my room." After Peter said that, he realized how creepy that might come out. "Not in like a gross way – "

"Alright." Melody sighed out, really not wanting to continue with this conversation.

"But just in, like an admiration way."

"Yeah, stop," Tony told him while Melody continued to stare at Tony, her mouth falling into a frown that this kid was taking up all the time they should have been spending either fighting or talking everything through.

Peter then looked out to the rest of the Avengers, giving a little wave. "Hey, everyone."

"Good job," Tony said again, hoping that would stop him.

Steve looked over at Tony, slightly impressed with the team he was able to pull together. "You've been busy."

Tony turned to Steve, with his eyebrows furrowed and his fiery stare fixated on him. "And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint," Melody began looking around, knowing he was hiding somewhere, ready to attack, "' rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't

even want to leave, a safe place." Tony was at the end of his rope. He just wanted them all to realize if this ended without Tony bringing them back, they would all be imprisoned, and the group would never go back to the way it used to be. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"You did that when you signed." Steve's righteous stare from Tony didn't waver, and that was all starting to piss Tony off.

Tony's face twisted as he stared at Steve, and it was at that moment that he realized he had lost all of his patience with his uncle. "All right, we're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, _now_, because it's us or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite." The next part sounded more like a plea than a demand. "Come on."

"We found it." Sam's voice had come into Steve's earpiece. "Their quinjet's in hangar five, north runway."

Steve then raised his bound hands which cued an arrow flying toward him and breaking the webs that were binding his hands. Melody turned around, and she was able to see the bow on one of the ledges before she saw Clint scurry off to another hiding place. Melody looked up, able to track his movements. "I know you, Clint." She mumbled more to herself than anything.

"All right, Lang."

"Hey, guys, something – " A man then appeared out of nowhere, punching Peter and then taking the shield back to Steve.

"Whoa." Rhodey looked back and forth from Peter to the new arrival as Melody just stared at Scott, trying to figure out how that happened. "What the hell was that?"

With a big smile, Scott ran to Steve and proudly gave him his shield back. "I believe this is yours, Captain America."

"Oh, great," Tony muttered under his breath.

Melody then nodded towards where she had seen Clint last. "There's two on the parking deck. One's Barton and one's Maximoff." She then looked back at Tony. "Tag team?"

"I'd love that," Tony told her quickly as she began to run off in that direction. Tony turned back to Rhodey, knowing he had to give more instructions. "Rhodey, you wanna take Cap?"

Rhodey began to fly up, immediately picking up two new heat signatures. "Got two in the terminal, Wilson, and Barnes."

"Barnes is mine," T'Challa claimed before running off to find them, but Steve moved after him, tackling him down as Rhodey flew down to intervene.

Tony then turned so he could follow Melody, but Peter was standing there, not sure what to do with himself. "Hey," Mr. Stark, what should I do?"

Tony knew the kid was going to need some extra guidance, but he didn't realize that it was going to be this much. "What we discussed. Keep your distance, web them up."

"Okay, copy that!"

Melody was able to run to catch up with Clint and Wanda trying to get to the quinjet. She had almost closed in on them when Tony began to shoot off missiles near the two. Melody stopped for a moment, wondering what the hell he was doing. "That's still my husband!" Melody yelled over the intercom to Tony, but he just kept firing.

Melody decided to keep running despite this operation seeming more serious than she originally thought. When she caught up with them, she tackled Clint down before quickly rolling off of him and standing up, ready to fight as Tony hovered in his suit behind her.

Clint made eye contact with Melody as he got up and made a move to show that he was protecting Wanda from them to try to somehow make them realize that this was all wrong. "Wanda," Tony sighed out while looking at her, "I think you hurt Vision's feelings."

She just continued to glare at Tony, dreaming about all the ways she could destroy him. "You locked me in my room."

"Okay," Tony spoke in a defensive tone, "first, that's an exaggeration. Second, I did it to protect you." Tony then turned to Clint, realizing he hadn't interacted with him once since Ross came to tell them all about the Accords. "Hey, Clint."

Clint nodded to him, also noticing that he hadn't seen Tony much lately. "Hey, man."

"Clearly, retirement doesn't suit you." As they talked, Melody continued to watch Clint, knowing he was up to something. "You got tired of shooting golf?"

"Well," he spoke with a shrug as he turned to look at Melody, "I played eighteen, shot eighteen. Just can't seem to miss."

He shot off an arrow that looked to be going for Tony, but Tony used his blasters to destroy the arrow before looking back at Clint. "First time for everything."

Melody shook her head as she noticed the glowing red from Wanda's hands. "He didn't miss."

Clint gave Melody a little wink before looking back to Tony with a shrug. "Made you look."

Multiple cars came flying down from the roof, leaving Melody and Tony to hurry out of the way, one car landing on Tony's shoulder. Melody ended up landing right near where a car landed, and she got pissed that Clint would put her that close to danger. One thing that made her even madder was how much she loved that little wink he gave her.

"Multiple contusions detected," Friday reported to Tony and Melody.

With an angry sigh, Tony burst out from the cars that had landed on him which was right next to where Melody had landed. "Yeah, I detected that, too."

Tony moved to Melody and helped her stand up. She looked around at their team getting their asses handed to them. "Is this part of the plan?"

"Well," Tony sighed out as he looked at the chaos. "The plan was to go easy on them. You wanna switch it up."

Melody opened her mouth to speak, but an explosion stopped her. It was from the tiny guy. She didn't even know who he was. He kind of just showed up, and now he was throwing a truck at Rhodey. She was done playing nice with all of them. Even her husband. They were going to do whatever it took to get out, so why the hell wouldn't they give the same energy back. "Follow my lead." She told Tony before putting a hand to her earpiece. "Vision, they're gonna make a run for the quinjet soon. I need you there to block them."

She then turned to Tony, nodding her head forward for him to follow. Just as the team almost made it to the quinjet, Vision was there to stop him, and so Melody came out along with everyone else on their team. "Captain Rogers," Vision called out to them all as he began to lower himself back onto the ground, "I know you believe what you're doing is right, but for the collective good you must surrender now."

Each side was staring their counterpart down, except for Vision who was just staring at Wanda. Steve was the first person to take a step toward the other team, but Melody was the second one to step out. She was done. With all of it, and it was going to end right here. Clint on the other side, took his stride towards Melody, really not wanting to fight, but knowing she wasn't going to accept anything else from their interaction.

Natasha stared at her friends for a split second before letting out a sigh and taking a step. "This is gonna end well."

Their steps quickly turned into a jog. Peter turned to look at Tony, worried about what was going to happen next. "They're not stopping."

"Neither are we," Tony whispered out as their jogs turned into a sprint, and each hero clashed with another.

Clint knew the first thing Melody was going to do was throw a punch, so he pushed out his bow to block it. Melody wasn't feeling much like herself, though. She went for the legs, kicking one out from under him before grabbing his arm and twisting. "Melody." Clint groaned as one of his knees dropped to the ground.

She pushed him down before jumping on top of him, taking a moment before delivering a blow. "Cooper's talent show is next week."

"I know," Clint spoke the words as more of a question that stemmed from the confusion of her feeling the need to bring that specific piece of information up.

"He needs help perfecting part of his magic act, and you can't do it from jail." Clint looked to her hands, noticing they weren't holding him down or anything. It was just her pelvis that had locked him down. He could get out. "You still have a chance to switch sides. We call all pretend this didn't happen."

"Melody," Clint sighed out while shaking his head. Then in a quick motion, he grabbed her wrists and threw her behind him, so they were now laying on the ground, their cheeks touching each other, but bodies laying the opposite way. "You're forgetting your basics."

Melody made a wild movement to punch him, but he grabbed her wrist. They both hoisted themselves up in hopes of getting the upper hand, but their fighting style was so similar, it was hard for either of them to get a proper hit in.

That was until Melody lost her grip on Clint's wrist which gave him the perfect advantage to shove his palm into her nose. He felt the bone break under his hand, and the sound of it was deafening. Melody stumbled back while holding onto her nose. He could see the blood already gushing out of it.

This enormous wave of guilt passed over Clint, and he tried to go to Melody, but she slapped his arm away. "Don't touch me." Clint moved towards her again, but she just had the same reaction. "I said don't touch me."

"That's bad," Clint said while nodding to her nose. Blood was starting to leak down her fingers. "Let me help you."

"Yeah," Melody yelled out while removing her hand from her face. A huge bloodstain had already formed on her lip, and blood was still pumping out of it. "Well, I don't need your help."

"You're still my wife," Clint told her while moving forward again. "I can still take care of you."

"Well, maybe I don't need anyone to take care of me." Melody moved forward him with fury raging in her pupils. "I'm obsessed with being an Avenger? Well, you're obsessed with having a wife you can take care of, but I don't need your help, and I've never needed your help." Melody adjusted her earpiece and squared her shoulders. "I can do it all by myself." She grumbled before turning around and meeting Scott in a squabble.

Clint just watched her for a moment, feeling numb. She was right, she could do it by herself, but she didn't have to, and he thought she knew that when she married him. Did she ever know that he was there to help break her fall throughout their short marriage? Or did she always see herself as a lone wolf? And if so, was that his fault? Was it the way he interacted with her? When in their relationship did they go wrong, and how did that end them here? That's when Natasha snuck up behind Clint, and for the first few blows in the attack, Clint took them. Her punches couldn't hurt more than Melody no longer trusting him.

Melody eventually found her way to Steve. The two were dodging and ducking each other's punches every time. "Melody," Steve began as he dodged her right hook. "You have to hear us out."

Melody expertly moved around his body to avoid the hit before delivering a blow of her own to his back. Steve stumbled forward a little bit, but quickly turned around, ready for the next one he was going to get. "You know, everyone keeps saying that, but no one stops to talk."

Steve stared at her for a moment before dropping his shield. She was right. Everyone was so passionate about their side, they never stopped and talked about how to get through this without fighting. "So, let's talk."

Melody just shook her head at him, wishing that things could be different. "I think we're too far gone from that, Steve."

She went for him again, but he was able to catch her wrist and spin her into a chokehold. "Listen to me." Melody was continuously grunting and squirming to get free, Steve knew he couldn't go easy on her if he wanted her to listen, so he held her neck tighter. "There are super soldiers and that crazy psychiatrist is going after them."

"You said that." Melody wheezed out.

"One of them…could be your father."

Melody immediately stopped fighting him and grew still. Steve slowly began to remove his arm from her neck, so she turned around to look him in the eye. "That's impossible. The Winter Soldier killed my father."

"Bucky," Steve began, "Injected him with something to slow his pulse to give the appearance that he was dead." Melody's eyes fell to the ground in thought. Was it a possibility? That after almost twenty years, her dad was kept in a secret prison. "And he was taken into the Winter Soldier program by HYDRA."

Melody began to shake her head, finding all of this too hard to believe. "And how do I know you're not just telling me what I want to believe so I can help you?"

Steve sighed before moving closer to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Because it's me."

Melody let out a deep sigh before looking around to make sure no one on her team was watching. She then turned back to Steve. "Theoretically, I could buy you some time to get by, but not everyone on your team is going to make it out." Steve smiled but she just continued to stare at him. "But I need to know where you two end up. I _need_ to know where that camp is." Her eyes were cold as Steve stared into them. "And if all of this is true, if my dad was taken from me, then that psychiatrist is _mine_."

Steve was worried that she was so driven by hate when that had never been the case with her. He couldn't tell her. He wasn't going to risk her going to the dark side over this. It would be better if she had no idea where they were going. "I promise."

Melody nodded toward everyone else fighting. "Let your team know, and then signal me when you want the distraction." Steve watched her walk off, and somehow, she seamlessly blended herself into a fight going on around her to not draw suspicion. She was going to be so mad at him, but he had to keep her safe.

It was only until Ant-Man turned into Giant-Man that she realized Steve had screwed her over. She turned to look at Steve who was standing behind the stairlift. He just gave her this sympathetic face like he was sorry. She trusted him. She used to trust him blindly. Now, it was seeming to be that every person she trusted was just going to pull it all out from under her.

This time, she was gonna hit Steve where it hurt. She began walking towards them. Not running or jogging. A casual stride. A few of Steve's team tried to fight her on the way toward them, but her fury wasn't making it much of a fight. And when she finally got to Steve, she made her way for Bucky with her dagger.

Steve tried to fight her, but she was able to plunge her dagger into his good arm while he let out a scream, alerting everyone of their whereabouts. "Melody!" Steve yelled her name like he wasn't only mad, but disappointed.

She shrugged at him before throwing her dagger down at Steve's feet. "He'll heal."

When she tried to turn around, Steve spun her back around with the same ferocity she had been giving. He placed both of his hands on her arms and gave her an angry shake which Melody was surprisingly calm with. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

She nodded to Bucky who was trying to nurse his wound. "The feeling of betrayal you felt when I stabbed him," she turned back to Steve to make sure he was listening to the words she was about to say, "that's how I felt when you broke your promise to me." She roughly ripped his hands from her arm and threw them to the ground before walking back to be with her team. "Good luck getting out of here."

As Steve stared at her, he felt like his stomach and done a free fall to his feet. He knew she was going to be mad, but he never wanted her to feel like he had betrayed her, or that he couldn't trust her. Did he just ruin their one chance of getting out of here?

"Okay," Tony began through the comms as Melody quickly moved to lock into a fight with Wanda to let off some steam. "anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose? I'm open to suggestions."

Wanda ended up quickly throwing Melody off and into a nearby truck. When she landed, Clint immediately began to hurry towards her, but Wanda stopped him. "We have a job to do, remember?"

Clint couldn't take his eyes off of Melody, noticing she still hadn't got up. "Did you have to be so rough? You could have hurt her."

Clint tried to go towards Melody again, but Wanda put her hand out as it began to glow red. "And right now, she's our enemy." When he finally looked back, she was being helped up by Spider-Man who thoroughly looked like he was geeking out over her again.

"But," Clint began, knowing he had to come up with something, but when he thought about it, Wanda was right. She was their enemy. But he loved her. "Wanda…" Clint was struggling to come up with words because just like her, he was also furious with Melody. "She…they…_she_ is confused, and hurt, and betrayed, and…" Clint trailed off for a minute, realizing he couldn't keep making excuses for her behavior, especially when he was the main cause for it. "And it's all because of me."

As everyone on Tony's team was trying to get through Giant-Man, Melody noticed that Clint was taking on T'Challa. She let out a long sigh and shook her head. "Bad move, Barton."

When she saw T'Challa elbow Clint in the head and then immediately kick him down to the ground, that's when she got concerned. She jogged over to Clint as T'Challa tried to make his way to Bucky and Steve. When she reached him, she offered him her hand to help him up. Clint just stared at her, not sure if this was real or a trick. "Come on, old man, I'm not leaving my hand out for you forever."

With a smile, Clint took her hand, and when they were both standing up, they stared into the other's eyes for a moment. It was like Melody was twenty-two again. She thought back to the gruff, mysterious, handsome man who sat in front of her in her political science class. She loved him, always had and always would, but she also hated him for everything that was going on. "Clint," she whispered as he placed a hand on her cheek, "I can't keep doing this, and neither of us are going to go to the other's side."

Clint stopped stroking her cheek, feeling this conversation was going in a direction he wasn't expecting. "So, what are you saying?"

She looked back up at him, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "I think we need to be done with each other, Clint."

Clint was numb. His hand fell from her face as he stepped back. "Like what? Like a…divorce?"

"A break." Melody corrected.

Clint stared at her for a long moment before letting out a dark laugh. "Your uncles' petty drama is what's going to break us up after _everything_?"

"We're not breaking up," Melody argued. "A break is different from a breakup."

"Melody," Clint laughed out while running his fingers through his hair. "How did this happen so fast?" Melody opened her mouth to answer, but words failed. "So, not only are the Avengers done," Melody looked up at Clint, her blue eyes growing more vibrant as tears threatened to fall, "but we are also…done."

"Temporarily." The two stared at each other for a long moment, both of their faces filled with sorrow and anguish. "I'm sorry, Clint." Clint nodded before breaking eye contact with her. "Genuinely." He nodded again, but this time he looked like he didn't believe her. "I'm sorry."

Clint looked up at her, knowing there was one more thing he could try. "Then run away with me."

Her blinks became rapid. She didn't know that was an option. Could they just…run away? After everything? Just the two of them. Together. "Where?"

He moved close to her, grabbing her hands when he did. "Anywhere. Somewhere far away from Tony and Steve's bullshit." Melody looked up at him, and for the first time in a couple of months, there was this spark reignited in her. Her eyes were shining as she stared up at him, thinking of everywhere they could go. "Venice. Seoul. Toronto. Napa Valley. What's that one city in France you want to go to? We'll go there, and we'll just disappear."

No matter how much Melody would have loved to get away at that moment, going to France was just out of the question. They had so much responsibility here. "Clint – "

"Tony, I'm flying dead stick."

Melody placed a hand to her ear. Communications. She had completely zoned everything out up until that point. When she looked up, there was Rhodey, falling. "Oh my god," Melody whispered.

Clint grabbed her hand and the two began running to the field as Rhodey came spiraling down. "Don't you have a grappling hook arrow that can stop him?"

"I need something up high to support it. He's in the middle of the field." Melody then thought about her suit. They had it here. She could put it on and –

There was a hard and loud thud, almost like an implode. Clint and Melody both stopped just as they made it into the field. _Please don't be dead._ That's all she could think over and over again as they made their way through more of the field. When they finally reached him, they saw Tony cradling Rhodey in his arms. "Oh my god," Melody whispered as Clint pulled her closer to him, so she wouldn't have to look.

A stream of blood was dripping out of his nose and Clint pressed Melody's face into his chest while shutting his eyes. "Read vitals."

"Heartbeat detected," Friday reported which made Melody break away from Clint's chest. "Emergency medical is on its way."

Melody turned to look at Sam, knowing better than anyone that he didn't mean it, but she still had all of this misplaced anger towards him. Sam turned to Tony, knowing he was partly responsible for what happened to Rhodey. "I'm sorry."

Tony just picked up his hand and used his blaster to knock him down. "Tony!" Melody yelled, knowing that was completely unnecessary.

Clint grabbed her hand after a moment, and Melody already knew how the rest of this was going to play out. "We should go."

Melody turned back to look at Tony who was so distraught he didn't notice anything else around him. Clint and Melody slowly began to walk out of the field, and once they made it out, Clint grabbed her hand and the two ran towards the parking garage.

Clint quickly found the small Beetle that Steve had driven in and began to break in while Melody stood by the passenger's side. "We can go to the next closest airport, ditch the car, and get a flight out of here." Melody just stared at him as he worked, feeling a conflicting force deep in her chest. "I still have our old undercover passports from the SHIELD days." Clint looked up at her, noticing for the first time how worried she looked. He slowly stopped what he was doing and met her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Clint," she began, not knowing how to say this, "you have to get out of here. Secretary Ross's men will be here any second to arrest you."

His eyebrows furrowed together, not sure what she was getting at. "I thought we were going together."

"I can't." Clint quickly hurried to the other side of the car and grabbed her hands, but Melody couldn't look him in the eye. "But it's not too late for you. You can get out of here before they come, but you have to leave _now_."

Clint then thought of something and looked at Melody. Her eyes were wide and concerned, but above all, guilty. "How do they know where I am, Melody?"

She let out a shaky breath as she stared into his eyes, pleading for forgiveness. "Please, Clint. Get out."

He scoffed before dropping her hands. Clint felt his chest tighten. He had been betrayed by a lot of people, but never Melody. He looked at her again, not understanding how all of this had stemmed from one fight between Tony and Steve. This wasn't even about them. This was about Melody and her undying loyalty. Now, for the first time, Clint knew what it was like to be on the other side of her loyalty. "So, you chose Tony."

She let out a long sigh, looking off at nothing before speaking. "I told you it was going to get ugly."

Clint's hurt quickly began to morph into anger the more he stood there with her. "Tell them to come."

Her head popped up to meet his eyes as she shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

"Ross's men." Melody's face contorted, not understanding why he would want them to come. "Tell them you apprehended me and have them come arrest me."

She didn't understand where he was coming from. Did he want to be arrested? "But Clint, you can still – "

"You told me I was going to be arrested. I would like it if there was one promise you could keep for me."

All she could do was stare at him while the sirens and flashing lights of the squad cars approached. Once they heard the slamming of the car doors, they each slowly put their hands up without breaking their stare. An officer went to Clint and slowly began to bring down his arms so he could place the handcuffs on him. Everett Ross approached them and stopped once he reached Melody as she slowly brought her hands down, still not looking away from Clint. "Clinton Barton," Ross began, "you are under arrest for obstruction of justice, insubordination of a lawful order, assault, incitement, and accessory to a crime."

Clint continued to stare at her, his expression still holding hurt, but there was also a layer of anger as he was dragged off. When the officers opened up the van, Melody noticed that all of her friends were in there. Sam, Wanda, even the new guy whose name she didn't know. Once Clint was positioned in the van, the door was slammed closed. Everett Ross walked up to her right, but she continued to look at the last place she saw Clint's face. "Thanks to you, we got all of them. Your husband was the one we were really worried about, but with your help – "

"Forward me the coordinates of the prison once they're there," Melody mumbled before walking off. She didn't know where she was going. She was too numb to make a decision. She was going to walk until she figured out her next step.

_**Wow, I just realized I never responded to reviews on the last chapter. Whoops**_

_**Gigi103: I'm glad you liked it! I need to go to some other stories first before I get to Infinity War, but I will try to get to it as fast as I can.**_

_**Guest: I hope you're liking it so far!**_

_**I'm back at school, so updates may be a little slower, but I'm working on them! I hope you're all enjoying!**_


	7. Family Feud

Melody was leaned back in her seat as she watched lightening skim across the sea, and the raindrops bleed down the window closest to her. She hadn't done much talking since Clint had been transported to the Raft. She reached the extent of her talking when calling Cooper, Lila, and Andy. She didn't say anything about their dad, or anything regarding her. She wanted to know how they were. She wanted to tell them how much she loved each of them. Something told her that was the last time she was going to talk to them.

"The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured." Melody blinked her heavy eyes a couple of times to snap out of her trance before turning back to look at the screens Friday was projecting. "The UN dispatched Doctor Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man."

"Did you run facial recognition yet?"

"What do I look like?" Friday seemed way more annoyed with Tony than usual which made Melody raise her eyebrows.

"Uh, I don't know." That also confused Tony just a bit. "I've been picturing a redhead."

"You must be thinking of someone else."

Tony then got quiet, knowing one other redhead that he was probably thinking about. "Must be." In return, Melody gave him a weak smile as he squeezed her hand before picking up his head to look at the screens again.

"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo." Once Melody saw his face, she felt this bubbling hatred deep in her belly. "Sokovian Intelligence. Zemo ran Echo Scorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."

Melody leaned forward, still focused on the original doctor. "What happened to the real Broussard?"

"He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room." Tony and Melody both turned to each other, equally furious that this man had single-handedly been there to rip their team apart. "Where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."

Melody let out a long sigh as she turned back to Tony. "I knew it. I knew it in my bones, Tony." He gave her a concerned look as she went back to the screen. "And I ignored it because I was…angry?"

Tony continued to stare at Melody, knowing she lost more than most in this battle. And if what Steve said was true, this was the man who killed her mother and was going to use her father to reignite the Winter Soldier program which would lead to a lot more death. He was furious for her. No one paid attention to how this would affect her, even himself. When he turned back to Friday, his eyes were harsh and pointed. "Get this to Ross."

"Yes, boss."

* * *

Tony stepped out of the helicopter first before offering Melody his hand so she could step down. She ignored it and walked right up to Ross. "So?" Ross raised his eyebrows at her and gave her a bored stare. Melody immediately read that and decided the rest of her tone was going to be hostile. "You got the files? Let's reroute the satellites, start facial scanning for this Zemo guy."

He let out a deep laugh as he looked back down at her. "You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig?" Melody's head leaned back to get a better look at Ross' face. He was deadly serious, and Melody couldn't believe after all they sacrificed for him and his precious Accords that he would treat them this way. "You're lucky you're both not in one of these cells." Then without a word, he led them into the prison cells, and all around them were their friends trapped in cages.

There was a slow clap emerging from one of the cells as they continued to look around. "The Futurists, ladies and gentlemen!" When they turned to their right, they saw Clint sitting on his bed, staring at them. His shoulders were dropped, and there was this angry tension spread throughout his face. "The Futurists are here! They see all!" Tony was the first one to walk forward, but Melody lingered for a moment before deciding to follow. She didn't know if she wanted to hear what Clint had to say to her. "They know what's best for you, whether you like it or not."

"Give me a break, Barton." Tony sighed out. "I had no idea they'd put you here. Come on."

Clint spit quickly before looking back up at him. "Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony." He gave a glance at Melody before looking at his hands. That's when she noticed he wasn't wearing his wedding band anymore. She wasn't sure if it was because the prison personnel took it or if he took it off of his own free will.

"Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey." Clint turned to look up at Melody once she was done with her sentence. It was the first time they had made eye contact in the interaction. "This place is for maniacs. This is a place for – "

"Criminals?" He finished for her while standing up. Melody just looked down again, not wanting to think of her husband or friends as criminals. "Criminals, Mel. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right?" He placed his elbows on the bars and looked back and forth at the two. "That didn't use to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

Melody turned back to look at him, their eyes connecting again. "Because you broke the law."

"Yeah." Clint scoffed as he began to pace around the cell.

"We didn't make you." Tony reiterated.

Clint slowly moved back to sit on his bead while in a monotone sang out, "La, la, la, la, la."

"You read it," Melody continued, harsher than before, "you broke it. You're all grown up."

Tony began to walk off to go talk to Sam, feeling the two needed a private conversation after the events of today. Melody stood stiff, staring at Clint with an empty glaze. That's when he came up back to the bars and slammed them with his palm. Melody let out a little bit of jump, but Clint's anger was focused more on Tony at the moment. "You gotta watch your back with these two." He then turned to look Melody in the eye. "There's a chance they're gonna break it." They stared at each other for a long moment, and when Clint spoke again, it was almost a whisper, as if he wanted to give them some privacy. "I asked you to run away with me and you betrayed me, again."

"What were we gonna do, Clint?" Melody almost laughed out. "We would just be on the run for the rest of our lives and never see our kids again? Ross would catch us eventually."

This was the first time that Melody could see the hurt in his face. "We would be together. Which is what we fought for…for years." Melody had to look away because she knew he was right. They could have had it all, but they couldn't be away from their children. "And you just threw it in my face."

Melody looked back up at Clint as she felt her hands begin to ball up into fists. She wanted to keep this conversation civil, but her fury was spilling over. "I_ tried_ to fight for you, Clint!" Clint seemed shocked at her sudden outburst, but now he was realizing they weren't going to keep this a private conversation anymore. "I told you to come with me. I _begged_ you! I told you what was going to happen."

He knew she tried, but he knew her. She still saw Tony's side as the right side. "Well, hey, you know what, you got your wish."

She shook her head, not sure what he was getting at. "What wish?"

That's when Clint threw his hands in the air with a big smile on his face. "You get to be an Avenger, baby." Melody's eyebrows furrowed. Did he think that was all she wanted? "You can just ditch the kids at my brother's and run off to be an Avenger. That was more important to you than your family anyway"

She took a step closer to the bars, wanting to be face to face with Clint. "Are you kidding me?!"

"No, I'm not because that's what you showed me." Melody felt her eyes began to water. How could he think she didn't care about their family? "You showed me that I can't trust you, so why the _hell _would I let you around my kids again?"

Melody's eyes had fallen, and her voice was now heavy when she spoke. "They're my kids too."

"One of them." Melody's head shot up. He wasn't wrong, but he had never so blatantly pointed that out to her before. "_One_ of them is your kid." Even though Lila and Cooper weren't her biological children she always made a point to treat them as if they were her kids. And he knew she had that insecurity. He just wanted to throw it in her face. "And thank god he's young enough that he wouldn't remember his mother stabbing his father in the back!"

She let out a sniffle before speaking. "I did it for you." It was a whisper as she was trying to regain back her voice from her sobs. "I did it for the kids. I know I messed up, but…I had the best intentions."

Clint also felt his eyes watering up, but he wasn't going to cry until Melody was gone. He made himself that promise. "Sometimes the best intentions – "

"Pave the road to hell?"

They stared at each other for a long moment, and the universe gave them a big cosmic sign because it all circled back. This was exactly how everything was destined to go from Wanda's actions on the mission in Lagos. They were going to end up here like it had been written in stone. With a long sigh, Clint finally let out his first tear. "Yeah, or something like that."

* * *

Steve and Bucky made their way through the HYDRA compound until they heard a bang come from the door behind them. They assumed it was Zemo and immediately got in a stance. Steve held his shield out while Bucky knelt with his rifle pointed at the door. "You ready?" Steve asked.

Bucky steadied his breath as his finger hovered over the trigger. "Yeah."

They waited an intense moment as the door was being pulled apart slowly, and once they finally got it, they saw Tony in his Iron Man suit with Melody by his side fashioning a purple and silver Iron Violet suit. They each had their helmets come off as they slowly advanced towards Steve and Bucky who were relaxing, but only slightly. "You seem a little defensive," Tony told Steve with his arms up.

Steve made sure to keep his shield out just in case they tried something. "It's been a long day."

Melody looked up at Bucky, noticing his finger was still resting on the trigger. "At ease, Soldier. We're not currently after you."

"Then why are you here?" Steve asked, still skeptical of what they were doing there.

Tony took a large step forward before stopping, standing face to face, but Melody stayed behind a little bit, zeroing in on Bucky's movements. "Could be your story's not so crazy."

Steve took a long sigh, feeling like this was the first time this week that he could relax just a little. "Maybe."

"Ross has no idea we're here."

Melody moved her glance from Bucky to Steve, feeling the need to establish some trust. "And we'd like to keep it that way."

"Otherwise, we gotta arrest ourselves," Tony told him with a disinterested face.

"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork."

Tony let out a little chuckle while Steve slowly brought his shield down. "It's good to see you, Tony." He then turned to Melody, giving her a little smile, hoping that there was some way she could forgive him for breaking his promise. "And you too, Melody."

"You too, Cap." Tony then noticed Bucky was still holding up his rifle toward them. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..." Steve motioned for him to put down the gun, and Bucky slowly complied.

Bucky stared at Melody for a long moment as he began to walk down the steps. Steve and Tony both watched intently, ready to break up a fight if one escalated. Bucky didn't stop until he was face to face with Melody, worrying Tony that he was going to act out. After a long moment, Bucky sighed before speaking. "You look just like her."

Melody nodded slightly before gulping, finding herself being way more nervous than she thought she would be. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

He slowly extended his hand out for her to shake it. "We've never been properly introduced. I'm…well…your grandfather."

A soft smile began to spread on Melody's face as her eyes went from his hand up to his face. She slowly placed her hand in his and shook it. "I'm your granddaughter." Melody was hoping this was the start of undoing all of the drama and hostility between both sides. Maybe even the beginning of rebuilding the Avengers again. And her relationship with Clint. Maybe it all started right now with these two taking the first step towards peace.

The shake slowly died, and when their hands fell to their side, Melody stared at him intently. There was one rumor Melody wanted to be confirmed. "Do you really think my father is in here?"

Bucky nodded. "I trained him." Melody's breath hitched in her throat. Her dad had always been so disappointed he never met his father, but it seemed that in the false afterlife, they knew each other quite well.

Melody turned to Tony and Steve, nodding towards the rest of the building. "Then we need to find him and help him."

She led the way and everyone else began to follow. They were hopeful that they would find James, but Tony and Steve were preparing themselves for the worst. They knew the James that they were going to find was not the James that Melody and Tony had known. He was going to be a shell. Just like Bucky was when he was first found, but Melody and Bucky had hope that he would be able to learn the same way Bucky had.

Tony and Steve had trailed behind as Bucky and Melody went down a particularly dark corridor. "I got heat signatures," Tony reported.

"How many?"

Tony took a long pause, knowing this answer wasn't one they were expecting. "Uh, one."

Once Tony and Steve went down the hall that Melody and Bucky were down, they stopped and looked around just like Melody and Bucky had. Around them were encasements for the other Winter Soldiers, but the closer they got, they realized that there were bullet holes in their skulls.

Melody placed a hand to her mouth, wondering where her father was, and if his cryo-chamber had also become a tomb. "If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." They all looked around, wondering where Zemo was. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

"What the hell?" Melody turned to look at Bucky, and the two looked ready for blood. Bucky repositioned his rifle for a more deadly aim while Melody prepared the thrusters in her suit.

"I'm grateful to them, though." Once they had made it towards the center of the room, lights came on in front of them, revealing Zemo in a closed container, but out loose was James. "They brought you here."

"Dad," Melody whispered out as she studied him. He looked like a robot. Like a shell. Not the loving man she once knew.

Steve felt a surge of spontaneous rage and threw his shield towards Zemo's direction, but it just slammed against the window he was behind, doing no damage. "Please, Captain," Zemo scoffed as Tony and Melody were still fixed on James. Tony felt this tightening in his chest. That was his big brother, someone he looked up to his whole life, and his features looked the same from the last time he saw him despite the time passing. "The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

Tony finally decided to look Zemo in the eye, stiffening, and trying to look collected. "I'm betting I could beat that."

"Oh," Zemo's voice was cocky and had almost a smile behind it. "I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."

Steve began to advance, but when he did, James took another step towards him. Steve stopped, not wanting to hurt his nephew, but at the same time knowing he had to be prepared for it to come to that. Steve's gaze fixed back on Zemo as he shook his head. "You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?"

Melody began to move towards her father, and as he stared at her, there seemed to be some sort of recognition, but it was like he was frozen, and could only move when he was ordered to. "I've thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you." Zemo's head slowly shifted to the side as he stared at Steve. "But now that you're standing here, I just realized there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes." Melody gulped, knowing Clint had often pointed that out about her eyes too. "How nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian." Melody began, moving forward to stand next to Steve so she could get a better look at Zemo, wanting to know why he killed her mother, resurrected her father as a weapon, and tore her family apart. "Is that what this is about?"

His eyes slowly moved to Melody while still maintaining his steely composure. "Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No." Melody knew that look in his eye though. It was about Sokovia, and it was about someone he lost. "I'm here because I made a promise."

Melody moved closer which made James step closer to her in a threatening way. She stared at her father for a moment, her eyes darting back and forth to measure his threat level. When she was sure he wasn't going to do anything, she turned her attention back to Zemo. "You lost someone?"

Zemo's eyes were watering as he trembled from rage. "I lost everyone. And so will you." She shook her head at him, not sure what else she could lose. There was an old computer near them, and once Zemo flipped a switch, the screen came on. Melody turned back to look at Steve, her eyebrows furrowed as he also matched her look. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within?" They both turned back to look at Zemo, realizing he planned their entire civil war, and it was about to reach its peak. "That's dead. Forever."

Tony and Bucky began to approach the screen the same way Melody and Steve had already begun doing. The closer they got, they realized this was something they had seen before. The recognition passed over Tony and Melody's face the instant they were able to make it out. "I know that road," Tony muttered before looking back to Zemo. "What is this?"

A car crashed into a wall, making them both jump. They knew what this video was now. More importantly, Melody knew more about this video than Tony did. Like the fact that Bucky was the one who killed them. A fire began to engulf the engine as a motorcycle made its way to the wreckage. Howard Stark had managed to get out of the car. He was lying on the ground, crawling towards the shape of a man. "Help my wife." He muttered through a cough. "Please. Help." Bucky then grabbed Howard by the hair and looked him in the face. Howard's eyes bulged out of their sockets at the appearance of this ghost. "Sergeant Barnes?"

Melody let out a long sigh, knowing this was the time of death for the Avengers. Now that Tony knew Steve was protecting the person who killed his parents, it was all over. Tony slowly moved his head over to Bucky, staring him down. Melody opened her mouth to call Tony's name, but they were interrupted by Maria's voice, "Howard!" When they all turned back, Bucky was violently punching Howard in the face with his metal arm. Melody gasped before looking away and feeling a tear roll down her cheek. She didn't want to see the bloody mess her grandfather had become. "Howard!"

Melody looked back at Maria's cry. Bucky was dragging Howard into the driver's seat, and with such delicacy, laid his head on the wheel. Maria was gasping and crying, but once Bucky reached the passenger's side, it stopped. "Bucky?" The long-lost husband she thought she would never see again was standing before her, fully prepared to murder her. He slowly began to go for her with the metal arm as well. She tried to move her neck away from him, but he was no match.

"Bucky," Maria cried out just as he got a good grip of her neck, "you don't have to do this." He slowly began squeezing, increasing his pressure with every second. Maria was flailing and gasping for breath. Steve had to break away from the screen to let out a loud whimper. When he first found out about his sister's death, he hoped she was killed on impact, so she didn't have to suffer. Now, that he was watching it, watching his sister slowly get the life choked out of her by her former husband and his best friend, the man he was protecting, it was all just too much. "When you're in love…" Melody looked back at the screen, feeling the hot tears pour down her face now, "you can do whatever…you…want."

He finished Maria with a crack of the neck, Steve turned back to the screen to watch him walk over to the camera that was recording it all. Melody turned to look at Tony, noticing his steely stare hadn't left the screen once. Bucky, he was just looking down, trying not to meet anyone's eyes. When she turned to look at her father, it was like he was trying to fight every part of his body.

Tony took off for Bucky which tore Melody away from her father. Steve was there to grab his shoulders and stop him. Through Melody's tears, she called out, "No, Tony."

Tony looked at Steve first and then looked to Melody, hurt passing over his face once he realized she could have also been keeping this secret from him. "Did you know?"

"I didn't know it was him." Steve cut in, wanting to protect Melody as best as he could, but Melody was through with keeping things from people. Keeping things just resulted in constant problems for her over the years. And now, because they kept something, Melody and Steve were single-handedly about to rip the Avengers apart.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers," Tony growled before pushing his face towards him. "Did you know?"

Steve stood there, searching Tony's eyes, having an inward battle. That's when Melody answered instead, "Yes."

Tony jumped back from Steve's grip as he looked back and forth at the two. He stared at Melody for a long moment, wanting to know why she didn't tell him right when she found out. He thought they didn't keep anything from each other. Steve's betrayal hurt, but Melody's left a heavy feeling in his stomach as if his soul had been crushed.

Tony had to look away from her before he said something he regretted. Steve, on the other hand, Tony didn't care about that relationship anymore. He punched Steve in the face, sending him flying across the room. "Tony!" Melody scolded as she tried to go up to Steve.

"Now," Zemo announced. Melody only made a couple of steps in Steve's direction before James had locked her in a chokehold and Melody began gasping for breath as her family fought as brutally as they could right before her eyes.

_**Purplestan: Yeah, so, most of your questions were addressed in this chapter, but I'll tell you again. Lila and Cooper are not Melody's biological children. She is their stepmom. So she kind of can't choose the names when she wasn't there when they were born and did not birth them. And the whole leaving the kids was talked about already, so I don't think I need to explain that one to you.**_

_**xLaBellaVita: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm sorry you hoped on to one of the sadder stories. I hope you're liking this one so far!**_

_**Guest: I'm sorry! This story arch is really about breaking Melody before Infinity War. My main goal when writing this was to see how much would end up breaking THE Melody Barnes. I promise we will eventually get back to the fun stuff**_

_**So, I think I only have one more chapter left of this story, and then we're done. Thank you all so much for reading this story! I know it's gotten super sad, but thank you for staying with Melody and me through all of this!**_


	8. Recovery

Melody flailed her arms around, trying to get a decent hit. After a moment, she let out a guttural laugh before looking up at her father. She almost forgot herself. "Zemo forgets I'm a super soldier too." Melody violently crushed her elbow into her father's gut when he least expected it, and continued to do it, until he released her neck. When she turned around, she blocked James' blow before kneeing him in the side.

James then kicked her knee and threw her over his head. When Melody landed, her body bounced before finally landing on her back. She let out bloody, ragged coughs and gasps as James made his way toward her. She immediately thought back to how Bucky had choked Maria to death. When he got down on the ground, he roughly flipped her body over and began squeezing her neck. She immediately felt the closing of her airway and began fighting and slapping but managed to wait until she had a clear kick to his abdomen to do any real damage.

When she kicked, he went flying across the room, giving Melody the perfect time to try to outrun him. When she looked up, Tony was holding Bucky in the air while choking him. That's when Melody looked to the discarded Captain America shield to her left. She picked it up and ran to Steve to free his legs as Tony missed Bucky and sent off a missile into one of the super-soldier pods.

Everything around them began crashing down as Steve and Melody tried to weave out of the way. That's when James caught her by the back of the neck and threw her down just in time for a piece of the stairwell to fall in her direction. Melody placed her hands out, catching the stairwell, but it was proving to be too heavy as Melody struggled. She noticed James was coming her way again. With a large grunt, she was able to stand as she lifted it over her head, and waited until Tony, Bucky, and Steve had moved their fight to another area to throw it.

James was getting closer, and once he did, she tried to fly to the upper levels, but James grabbed her by the boot and slammed her back into the ground. When she looked back, she realized her foot was now exposed. He had ripped her suit's boot clean off. She laid there for a moment, realizing she had trapped them all near the main stairwell. She noticed Tony chasing Bucky as they went further up the levels.

James clouded her view as he stepped up to her. Melody let out a terrified groan as she rolled over onto her stomach and tried to crawl away. She heard James' footsteps clunk towards her before hearing the familiar sound. Vibranium. When she turned around, she saw that Steve had managed to knock James down for the time being.

He leaned down to help her up as she took her mask off. Steve's eyes scanned her before he finally decided to speak. "Get out of here."

Melody shook her head vehemently, thinking they had moved past this. "I'm not going anywhere." Steve's head went back a little, realizing that in a few short days, she had become a completely different person. She wasn't a sidekick anymore. She had come into being a hero. Steve would have been proud of her if her life wasn't in absolute danger. "This is my family too."

Steve moved closer to her, wanting so desperately to get her on his side still. "I didn't mean it like that."

James slowly began to lift himself, leading the two to begin to ascend to the upper levels so he wouldn't catch them. Melody was having trouble with flying with her missing blaster, so she was mostly climbing, but that was making her go a lot slower and because of that, James was right on her tail. Bucky had almost made it to the top as Tony was still going after him. Melody launched off a grappling hook, it easily finding its way around Tony's neck to bring him down to assure Bucky's escape.

Tony hit one of the levels hard, and when he turned to look at Melody, there was betrayal all over his face. She didn't need to see him to know it was there. She could picture the furrowed raised eyebrows, the hurt in his eyes. Steve then tried to throw his shield at Tony, and without tearing his eyes off Melody, he blasted the shield out of his way and let it clank to the ground.

Melody got up to go to Tony when she felt the pulling of her hair which led to a deafening scream as James knocked her onto her back. Tony forgot about his anger with Melody and flew over to her. In a quick fix, he knocked James down another level, and then turned his attention back onto Bucky. He trained his targets onto the hinge of the door that lead out through the upper levels. "No!" Melody screamed once she realized what she was doing.

When she tried to get up and stop Tony, he pushed her into the wall with his other hand before sending off a missile to the hinge, trapping them all in there as Bucky fell back onto one of the lower levels.

Once Melody was able to look back, Tony, Steve, and Bucky all collided together falling towards the bottom. Bucky caught onto another level while Steve and Tony fell to the bottom. Melody threw the mask back onto her face and tried to fly off, but James was able to jump up and catch her only remaining boot, yanking her down to the bottom level as well. They went past Tony and Steve and together, the two of them rolled out of the building and into the snow.

Melody blacked out from the fall, and when she opened her eyes again, she noticed not only was her mask gone but her entire helmet. She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and when she began to sit up, she noticed blood had now stained the white snow from where her head was. She was blinking rapidly, still not able to process exactly what happened as she let out long, shallow gasps.

That's when she felt a cold rough hand grab her neck. She immediately began to gasp at the lack of air, but this time, she didn't have the strength to fight him off. "You have t-t-to stop," she spoke out weakly. James slowly began to lift her, forcing Melody onto her knees. "I'm your daughter. Melody…Buchanan…Barnes." James slowly began to stand, his grip on Melody's neck just getting tighter. Her feet dangled as she kicked desperately to get more air. She found herself praying for the ground as she was choking, coughing and wheezing. "Your wife is Emily." Her eyes felt like they were going bulge out of her skull and she felt like her windpipe was going to be crushed under her father's grasp.

Melody felt her vision began to fade in and out as well as feeling her skin begin to swell from the lack of air. She knew that there was no way she was going to survive this, and she was close to losing consciousness. Only a few more seconds and it was lights out. Then James would finish her off. She thought she might as well use her last surge of strength to try one more time to break her father out of this spell. "Dad." It was barely audible, but something in James was set off by that word. Zemo's control had worn off for just a moment. He let go of her neck, and Melody fell to the ground, letting out deep, gravelly gasps.

James watched her as she breathed and hacked up a tremendous amount of blood. She was so big now. The last time he saw her, she was ten. "Melody?"

She stopped coughing for a moment and felt her eyes slowly follow her father from his shoes to his face. He looked remorseful. Had she done it? "Daddy?" Her voice was now a lot lower in pitch and took that gravelly resonance with it.

With a little chuckle, he fell to his knees to be face to face with her and placed his hands on her cheeks. They were both laughing happily while letting out happy tears. "You are_ so_ beautiful."

She let out a breathy gasp as she placed her forehead to his. "I've missed you so much." The two let out more tearful laughs until James let out a painful groan as he placed his hand on his head. All of the playfulness on their faces was gone, and now Melody's only thought was of how she was going to get her family out of this alive. "Dad," Melody tried to put her hand to his head to help, but he just slapped it away, "what's wrong?"

"He did something to my head." He looked up at Melody, knowing what he was going to ask her to do was going to be the worst thing he could think of. "I need you to kill me." Melody went stiff. She would do anything for her dad now that she had him back, but she couldn't do this. She immediately began shaking her head. "Because of what he did to me, I'm not gonna stop until I kill you. So, I need you to kill me so that doesn't happen."

She looked down at his hands, still shaking her head. "I-I can't." When she looked back up at his face, she gave him a small smile in hopes to offer him hope. "We can help you. We can fix this. We can – "

James let out another agonizing scream just making Melody cry out desperately. When he looked back up at Melody, she noticed he wasn't just asking her to kill him, he was begging her. "He's gonna tear me apart from the inside if I don't kill you." It was at that moment that Melody realized that there was no getting out of this. "I wish it wasn't you, but it has to be you."

Melody felt the tears stream down her cheeks as she stared at him. This couldn't be the last time she saw him. Not after he had been alive this entire time. Not after she had gotten him back "Dad," Melody cried out.

He offered her a small smile before nodding. "It's okay." There was something she noticed in his eyes, something she had always noticed when she looked at him. It was that look that had always made her feel safe. That's how she knew that she had to do this for her father's sake. After everything he did for her, she owed him that much. Melody took a deep breath as she slowly raised her shaking arm and aimed her blasters at her father's chest. "It's okay, Melody." She stared at his face for a long moment before shutting her eyes.

She thought back to a moment at a carnival when he had placed her on top of his shoulders as he walked through all the colorful rides and food stands. She remembered tugging on fistfuls of his hair just so he would chomp his teeth at her, and she would laugh. She thought about all her tiny muscles pulling his hair, and then she thought about the chomp. In the memory where she would have laughed, she shot off her blaster.

She slowly opened her eyes to see her father looking weaker than she had ever seen him before. His hand was stopping the gushing of the blood as he cradled his wound. Melody slowly moved to her father only slightly, and let his body fall into her lap. They stared at each other, knowing they had so much to catch up on and such little time. He needed to know about all of it.

"I live in upstate New York." James smiled while letting out a sniffle. "With my husband Clint, and my son Andy, and my step-children, Lila and Cooper." He winced a little bit but continued to keep that smile on his face as he heard about everything he had missed. "I'm an Avenger." All he could do was stare at her; his eyes soft as his jaw slacked. "You know the Avengers Initiative that mom and Fury came up with?" He nodded very weakly which made it a little harder for Melody to continue. "Well, I'm in it. I help people. I've even saved the world a couple of times." James' smile had never been bigger, but it was all just hurting Melody more. She had just gotten him back, and now she was losing him all over again. "I do it to make you proud."

James opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it from the pain. When he opened his mouth again, Melody noticed the blood filling it which lead to a small cry from her. "I am-I am proud."

She shut her eyes tight as the tears seemed to emanate from her entire body. When she looked back down at her dad, his breath was shallow, and his skin was pale and cold. "Dad, I love you." Melody knew she had very little time left, and she just had to tell him one more thing. "Tell mom I love her." He nodded before letting out a few gasps and then going still.

Melody started shaking first. Steve had given her so much hope that they would be able to find James alive, and save him like they had saved Bucky. Now, she was cradling his body, facing the unavoidable truth, and she was just…broken. Fully and utterly broken in every possible way a person could be broken. She let out a loud cry before collapsing into his torso. He was the one thing she thought she could still have, but she had nothing left. Her family was in tatters along with her team. Her marriage was done. Clint was going to make sure she never saw her kids again. Her mother was killed. She killed her father. There was this void spreading throughout her chest, and that was the moment she realized, she had _nothing_.

She slowly moved her father from her lap and adjusted his body, so it was laying flat and still. That's when she continued to hear the familiar sound of vibranium hitting metal. With shaky limbs, she found herself able to stand and walk to the landing slightly above her where she knew Tony and Steve were fighting. She was watching the two for a long moment. Steve was slamming his shield into Tony's helmet and once it fell off, Steve revved up to send the shield into his face when Melody sent off two identical blasters, one to Tony's suit, and the other to Steve's shield.

They were each thrown across opposite ends of the room, forced to stop as Melody continued to stand at the center, taking long deep breaths. "This is done." Her voice was hollow as her gasps continued. "We're done." She turned to Tony first as he began to sit up, never seeing her so empty before. "All of this." She then turned her gaze to Steve, him sharing the same concerned face Tony had. "Done."

They both weren't sure if they should move toward her or give her space. Melody turned to look dead in front of her, knowing she didn't want to see any of their faces as she said these next words. "This team. This partnership. This family." Tony and Steve turned to look at each other from across the room as she said that. Through their drama, they had each dragged Melody through the meat grinder, and now, she was on no one's side. "It's all done. It's all gone."

Tony moved slightly to go towards her, but Melody just trained her blaster on him again. That's when Tony stopped, knowing that if she was willing to shoot him right now, it was never her that was betraying him, it was him who had betrayed her. He took the knife out of his back from Steve and trained it at Melody rather than just simply putting it down

As Melody stared at him, she thought back to all the times Tony had been there to help her. As she thought through those moments, she realized this was the first time she felt like she couldn't trust him when usually, he was the only one she could count on every single time. She felt her knees begin to buckle before she fell to the ground and looked down while letting out deep sighs.

That's when Steve was able to pick up his shield and then move to Bucky to help him up. Tony turned to look at Steve, beginning to blame him for what happened to Melody. Rationally, Tony knew that wasn't possible, but at that moment, he wanted to blame anyone but himself for what he had done. "That shield doesn't belong to you!" He yelled at Steve. Melody still didn't make any movement to stop them. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"

Steve stopped. This was his shield. Howard had made it for him, but when he thought back onto what the two had caused, he knew that Tony was right. He didn't deserve that shield. He didn't need that shield. He had ripped Melody apart along with Tony. With a long gasp, he dropped the shield and continued to walk off with Bucky's arm draped along his shoulder.

Tony and Melody continued to sit there. Melody was still shaking as silent tears fell down her cheeks and Tony began to spit out the blood that had collected into his mouth. He turned to Melody, scared for what this had done to her. He thought back to one of the simplest laws when it came to engineering. If you applied enough pressure to steel, it would break. And Steve and Tony had applied so much pressure. No wonder this was her breaking point.

_I knew I couldn't kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But if I could get them to kill each other..._

* * *

Clint waited until the mailman and drove off before walking out to the mailbox. The monitor around his ankle is what he was self-conscious of. He had spent most of his life trying to be the good guy, and now, he was under house arrest. The days were boring while the kids were at school and Barney and Kim at work. Usually, it was just him, Andy, and his nephew. One thing he could count on was every Wednesday, the mailman came and delivered the mail.

When he pulled the stack out of the mailbox, he quickly noticed the neat writing on the envelope that was on top. He dropped everything else and began to tear the envelope open. "Oh, Melody." He whispered as his fingers tore through to get to the stationary where he could find her familiar writing again.

_Dear Clint,_

_I'm sorry. I thought I would start this by listing everything I'm sorry for. I'm sorry we didn't see eye to eye. I'm sorry I let them take you. I'm sorry you're under house arrest. I'm sorry I left and didn't say a word to you. The truth is, I thought you would hate to see me after everything. I wouldn't blame you if you ripped this letter up and had nothing to do with me ever again._

_I trust Tony has told you everything by now. I also trust Tony's gone on a manhunt for me. I've taken great measures to assure that no one would be able to find me. I'm off the grid, and I plan to stay that way. _

_One thing I haven't told anyone is why. When I looked at Tony and Steve who had nearly killed each other because of all of this, I realized this was the path I was on. If I was involved with their fight more than my fight with my father, I know I would have been driven to that very point with the rest of them. We had each let our pride cloud the truth, and if we would have each taken a step back and put together the entire picture, we would have been able to work together to take down Zemo before he ripped us all apart. And most of that is my fault._

_I don't know who I am anymore. I have lost everything. My job. Myself. What was left of my family. Most importantly, I lost you. I lost your trust, and I kick myself every day for letting that happen. I need to get away and figure out who I am again. I would love to appear on your porch with a duffle bag in my hand and collapse into your arms. I would love to hold the kids again, but I know I can't do that yet. I went to a dark place, and I never want to be in that place around you or the children ever again._

_I'm not sure when I'll be back. I don't know how long these soul-searching missions take. And I want you to know that it's okay if you don't want to wait for me. But I want you to know that I will always wait for you to be able to trust me again. Like you told me in that hospital room six years ago, why would I waste time on anyone else when I found the right one? Tell the kids I love them. Maybe one day when you're ready and you're rid of that stupid ankle bracelet, we can meet in the city for a cup of coffee and an apology in person. _

_I love you with everything in me,_

_Melody Barton_

Clint let out a tearful laugh when he got to the end of the letter. It was a simple thing that made him smile, but it was the use of her last name. He thought for sure after everything, their marriage would be over, but she still used Barton.

A crying came from the house, and he knew he had to go check on the kids, but he gripped the letter as he walked back into the house. Andy had been crying over a broken toy, and when he picked him up to assure his worries, he held him a little tighter, missing his mother more than he thought he could ever miss another person. But she would come back. He knew that for a fact. After she found herself, she would be right back in that house with him, helping him soothe their son's cries. He just had to wait. He would wait for the rest of his life if he had to.

* * *

Melody waited at the door for a second, rehearsing in her head what she was going to say. She looked around the street one more time before opening the doors and taking a large stride in. Once she got inside, the first thing she noticed was the wide, wooden staircase. That's when the door slammed shut behind her.

She turned around, inspecting the door for a moment until she heard someone at the top of the stairs. When she turned back around, a man stood at the top. He had dark hair, his sideburns grey, and he wore a long red cloak with yellow gloves. "I was wondering how long you were going to stand out there for." Melody's eyes knit in confusion. How did he know that? "Mrs. Barton."

She looked around a moment. It wasn't strange that he knew her name, it was the previous comment that got her. "You knew I was outside?"

He slowly began to come down the steps, not taking his eyes off her the entire time. "Well, Mrs. Barton, you're the one that came here looking for the practice of mystic arts."

She stood there for a moment, realizing how dumb her question had been. She honestly asked a wizard how he knew she was standing outside of his sanctum. "Melody is fine."

Once he was on the bottom step, he smiled at her. "Melody, then, if you were looking for training, why come here, why not go to Nepal?"

"Well," she began with a shrug, "I heard the old place doesn't have leadership anymore."

"So, you thought finding this sanctum and asking for training from me would be better?" He looked around for a moment before deciding to ask her a more specific question. "How did you even find this place?"

A smug smile began to tug at her lips before she shrugged. "I have my resources." The man looked her up and down. Maybe taking on an apprentice would be good for him. She did come all this way. "What do I call you anyway? Supreme Leader?"

His smile began to match hers. "Doctor Strange is fine."

_**Purplestan: You're totally fine! I get that and I sometimes have to go back and read my own stories just to remember specific details. I hope you liked the story!**_

_**Gigi103: Thank you so much! I agree that CW is so important! I hope you liked this story, and thanks for reviewing.**_

_**Guest: Sorry, I couldn't give you the father one, but at least Melody didn't die. I hope you liked the ending! Thank you for reviewing!**_

_**Here is the end of the story! I hope you all liked this one. I am planning and re-doing my London Has Fallen fanfic next, but I will be back after that one is done. Thank you all so much for continuing with this series. The next one will take place during Thor: Ragnarok. As usual, I will post an announcement chapter in this story to let you know when the new one is up. I will miss you all and Melody! **_


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